Which Crypto Assets will Benefit from the CLARITY Act? January 2026

AI summary

The CLARITY bill is now in limbo, and America's best chance at comprehensive crypto regulation may be dead.

The Digital Asset Market Structure Bill (also known as the CLARITY Act) was supposed to be the breakthrough moment. After years of regulatory chaos, unclear jurisdictions, and enforcement-by-lawsuit from the SEC, lawmakers were finally going to draw clear lines: what's a security (SEC territory), what's a commodity (CFTC territory), and how stablecoins should work.  

Only 48 hours after perusing the U.S. Senate Banking Committee’s draft of the Digital Asset Market Structure Bill, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong took to X to renounce his support for it, and then some, referring to its proposal as “even worse than the status quo.” His post set off a chain reaction that led lawmakers to delay Thursday’s planned markup vote.

What is the CLARITY Act?

The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025 (also called the "Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act") is a comprehensive 278-page bill designed to finally answer the question that's been killing the U.S. crypto industry: Who regulates what?

For years, the SEC and CFTC have been fighting turf wars over digital assets. The SEC claims almost everything is a security. The CFTC says many tokens are commodities. Companies have been getting sued left and right, with no clear rules. The CLARITY Act was supposed to end that problem by:

1. Drawing clear jurisdictional lines between the SEC (securities) and the CFTC (commodities)
2. Defining key terms like "digital asset," "digital commodity," "blockchain," and "decentralized governance system."
3. Creating compliance pathways so exchanges, brokers, and custodians can operate legally.
4. Establishing rules for stablecoins and how they can be used.
5. Giving crypto businesses a clear compliance roadmap.
    

How did the CLARITY Act begin its journey?

The House passed H.R. 3633 in July 2025 with a strong bipartisan vote of 294 to 134, a massive margin that signaled real momentum. After that, the bill moved to the Senate, where things got messier.

The Senate Agriculture Committee focused on giving the CFTC authority over spot digital commodity markets, while the Senate Banking Committee explored definitions and stablecoin frameworks. Two different committees, two other priorities, lots of potential for conflict.

The Senate Banking Committee scheduled a markup session for January 15, 2026, at 10:00 AM ET, that's when lawmakers would debate, propose amendments, and vote on whether to advance the bill. Then everything fell apart.

The core framework

The Clarity bill sought to create a "lane system" that assigns jurisdiction based on the functional lifecycle of a digital asset. Here's how it works:

Digital Asset Securities (SEC territory):

• The bill defines an "ancillary asset"—network tokens whose value relies on the "entrepreneurial or managerial efforts" of an originator or a "related person"
• If someone's actively promoting and developing a token, it starts as a security.
• The SEC gets disclosure requirements similar to public equity standards.

Digital Commodities (CFTC territory):

• Once a token falls under "digital commodities," the CFTC takes central regulatory authority, including over spot markets—something it has lacked despite being widely viewed as the appropriate regulator
• The idea is that as a network matures and becomes truly decentralized, it can "graduate" from being a security to being a commodity

Decentralized Finance:

• Section 309 deals with "Exclusion for decentralized finance activities"
• Section 109 addresses "Treatment of certain non-controlling blockchain developers"
• These provisions were supposed to protect DeFi developers who don't control user funds.

Why does the clarity bill matter so much?

Industry advocates argue that without this legislation, the United States risks falling behind jurisdictions like the European Union, which fully implemented its Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation in December 2024.

Right now, we're in a situation where:

• Companies don't know if they're breaking the law until the SEC sues them.
• Institutional investors won't touch many crypto projects because of regulatory uncertainty.
• Crypto companies are fleeing to Dubai, Singapore, Switzerland, and other friendlier jurisdictions.
• The U.S. is losing both economic opportunity and the ability to set global standards

The CLARITY Act was supposed to fix all of that. It aimed to establish the United States as "the crypto capital of the world by balancing innovation with strong investor protections and tough law enforcement tools".

What is delaying the Clarity Act?

48 hours before the scheduled markup vote, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong posted on X that he could no longer support the bill "as written," calling it "even worse than the status quo".

His specific objections:

• De facto ban on tokenized equities.
• New DeFi rules would grant the government "unlimited access to financial records," severely undermining user privacy.
• Shift of power from CFTC to SEC - The CFTC is seen as more crypto-friendly; giving more power to the SEC is a huge problem.
• Elimination of stablecoin rewards - Armstrong argued that this allows banks to kill their competition at the expense of American consumers.

Let's explore these issues in more detail.

1. Stablecoin rewards

After the GENIUS Act passed (which created a stablecoin framework), there was a loophole: stablecoin issuers couldn't pay interest directly, but platforms could offer rewards. Coinbase reported $355 million in stablecoin-related revenue in Q3 2025 and offers yields of up to 5% to holders of USDC.

Bank lobbyists argued that this could threaten the U.S. financial system by siphoning money out of bank deposits. Traditional banks pay almost nothing on savings accounts; stablecoins pay 3.5-5%. That's a massive competitive disadvantage. The CLARITY Act tried to compromise: ban "passive" yield (just holding coins) but allow "activity-based" rewards (using coins for payments, staking, liquidity provision).

Nobody liked it. Banks said the loophole still exists. Crypto companies said it kills their business model.

2. Tokenized securities ban

Brian Armstrong cited concerns that the bill would ban tokenized equities—stocks, bonds, and other traditional securities traded on blockchain. The bill imposes restrictions that would make it nearly impossible to trade stocks on the blockchain.

This is huge because tokenized securities represent a potential trillion-dollar market. Imagine being able to trade fractions of real estate, art, bonds, or stocks 24/7 with instant settlement. The bill would kill that entire vertical before it even fully develops.

Some firms like Securitize already have the licenses to operate in this space, and there's speculation (from short-seller Citron Research) that Armstrong withdrew support to protect Coinbase from competition with Securitize. Armstrong denies this, saying the restrictions hurt everyone.

3. Ethics and conflicts of interest

A bipartisan group of senators wanted provisions to prevent public officials from profiting off digital asset ventures, with Elizabeth Warren referring to an ethics provision as a "red line".

This is obviously about Donald Trump. The Trump family has deep entanglements with crypto; they launched a memecoin, NFTs, and their digital asset platform World Liberty Financial (WLFI) recently applied for a federal bank license.

Democrats want to ensure government officials can't use their positions to enrich themselves through crypto. Republicans say ethics provisions don't belong in market structure legislation.

How the Clarity Act fell apart 

Following Armstrong's X post, the Senate Banking Committee delayed its scheduled markup of the bill, with Chairman Tim Scott citing unresolved key issues. White House crypto czar David Sacks weighed in, saying the delay should be used by the industry to "resolve any remaining" issues.

Which Cryptocurrencies will benefit from the CLARITY Act?

The CLARITY Act doesn't pick specific winners by name, but it creates a framework that will dramatically benefit certain types of cryptocurrencies based on their characteristics. If the crypto industry gets its way, the bill creates two main routes for cryptocurrencies to benefit:

The mature blockchain pathway

The bill defines a mature blockchain as "a blockchain system, together with its related digital commodity, that is not controlled by any person or group of persons under common control".

To qualify, networks need to meet specific criteria, including full operational functionality, true decentralization where no single entity controls more than 20% of supply or voting power, and the absence of unilateral upgrade authority by founders or companies.

Clear winners here:

• Bitcoin (BTC) – The gold standard. Already recognized as a commodity, fully decentralized, with no central authority.
• Ethereum (ETH) – Post-Merge, it has broad validator distribution and massive developer decentralization. Already treated as a commodity.

The "ETF Inclusion" fast track

Here's where things get really interesting. The latest Senate draft includes a provision that classifies specific tokens as "non-ancillary" assets if, on January 1, 2026, any units of that network token were the principal asset of an exchange-traded product listed on a national securities exchange.

This creates an instant pathway to commodity status based simply on having an approved ETF. Under this act, XRP, SOL, LTC, HBAR, DOGE, and LINK will be treated equally with BTC and ETH from the date the act takes effect.

Immediate beneficiaries:

• XRP (Ripple) – Has ETF products listed
• Solana (SOL) – Has ETF products listed
• Litecoin (LTC) – Has ETF products listed
• Hedera (HBAR) – Has ETF products listed
• Dogecoin (DOGE) – Has ETF products listed
• Chainlink (LINK) – Has ETF products listed

This is huge because it bypasses the entire "mature blockchain" certification process. If you had an ETF by January 1, 2026, you're automatically in.

Stablecoin winners

The CLARITY Act works alongside the GENIUS Act to create a clear framework for "Permitted Payment Stablecoins." The big winners here:

USDC (Circle) – Fully backed by reserves and regularly audited, which makes it a Permitted Payment Stablecoin under the GENIUS Act, with clear legal status allowing it to be widely used in the U.S. for payments, trading, and DeFi applications.

DAI (MakerDAO) – As a decentralized stablecoin operating on Ethereum, it benefits from both Ethereum's mature blockchain status and DeFi exemptions.

PYUSD (PayPal) – Backed by a major financial institution, likely to qualify for permitted stablecoin status.

Notably, Tether's USDT faces greater uncertainty amid ongoing concerns about transparency and regulatory compliance.

DeFi protocol winners

The bill includes specific protections for decentralized finance. Uniswap operates on a well-established and extensively decentralized network, making it eligible for DeFi exemptions as specified in the CLARITY Act, meaning its validators, relayers, and developers are not treated as traditional financial intermediaries.

Other DeFi winners include:

• Aave – Decentralized lending protocol
• Curve – Decentralized exchange
• Compound – Lending platform

These protocols benefit from Section 203 clarifying that "end-user distributions," which specifically include staking rewards, do not constitute the offer or sale of a security.

What happens to the bill?

There are a few scenarios we foresee.

Best-case scenario: If banks, Coinbase, and Democrats strike a deal on stablecoin yields and tokenized securities rules in the coming days, the bill could recover. Chairman Tim Scott told Fox Business he believes the CLARITY Act will become law before the midterm elections. 

Matt Hougan, Chief Investment Officer at Bitwise, described the legislation as the "Punxsutawney Phil of this crypto winter," noting that if the bill passes and is signed into law, the market could be "heading to new all-time highs".

Medium case: The bill is substantially rewritten, potentially split into multiple pieces of legislation addressing different issues.

Worst case: If the Banking Committee fails to advance the bill or if it passes committee but can't reach 60 votes on the floor, the legislation faces long odds for 2026. Election-year dynamics make controversial legislation increasingly difficult to pass as November approaches.

If it dies completely, the crypto industry would need to start over in 2027 with a new Congress, potentially with different political dynamics depending on election results.

Our conclusions

At its core, the CLARITY Act represents a collision of fundamental competing interests that will shape the future of American finance.

The first battleground is between traditional banks and crypto platforms over who gets to offer savings products and capture deposits—a fight that will determine whether the financial services industry evolves or whether incumbents can use regulation to eliminate emerging competition.

The second is a jurisdictional struggle between the SEC and CFTC over which agency will control the regulatory future of digital assets, a decision that will fundamentally shape how permissive or restrictive that oversight becomes.

The third tension exists between privacy advocates and surveillance proponents, raising the question of how much access the government should have to citizens' financial transaction data in an increasingly digital economy.

The fourth conflict pits innovation against institutional protection, forcing lawmakers to choose between prioritizing new financial products and technologies or preserving the advantages of established institutions.

Finally, there's the ethics dimension, crystallized by the Trump family's extensive crypto business interests, which raises the broader question of whether politicians should be permitted to profit from industries they regulate.

These are not technical questions with technical answers. They are fundamentally political choices about who holds power in the American financial system, and the collapse of the CLARITY Act demonstrates how difficult it is to reconcile these competing visions within a single piece of legislation.

The window for crypto-friendly legislation is right now! Trump is pro-crypto, there's bipartisan support, and the industry has momentum. But if they can't get this done before midterms, the opportunity might be gone for years.