The time is now: the Senate must act on crypto market structure legislation

The United States needs to finally establish a clear framework that the market needs.

Nine months ago, Congress passed the GENIUS Act, establishing the first federal regulatory framework for payment stablecoins. The results have been demonstrative: the stablecoin market grew 49% in 2025, reaching $306 billion by year's end. Circle, Ripple and other digital asset companies received provisional national banking charters from the OCC. Institutional capital that had been sitting on the sidelines moved into these markets. Recruiters, who a year earlier described an industry in which "every protocol foundation was bailing to the Caymans [tradingview.com]," now report that 90% of senior crypto leadership searches are U.S.-based. Clear rules produced exactly what their advocates said they would: investment, institutional engagement and onshoring of activity that had been migrating elsewhere.

That outcome sharpens the task before the Senate Banking Committee: applying a clear framework to the broader digital asset market. The crypto market is currently worth $3.2 trillion. Nearly 70 million Americans, one in five, own crypto. This is a significant and growing market.

The GENIUS Act addressed payment stablecoins. The CLARITY Act sets the rules for everything else: registration and oversight of trading venues and intermediaries, jurisdictional lines between the SEC and CFTC, disclosure and compliance across the token lifecycle, and the protection of non-custodial technologies under U.S. law.

These are the foundational rules that determine whether the next generation of financial infrastructure gets built here in America – or elsewhere. Within the last 10 years, the number of developers in the U.S. dropped by 51%. Nearly 90% of global CEX volume is offshore. America needs foundational rules because without them, the same dynamic that preceded GENIUS would apply to the rest of the market. Trading activity, protocol development and institutional engagement in digital asset markets will continue to flow toward jurisdictions that have already provided the regulatory clarity Congress has yet to deliver. Other jurisdictions, including the EU, Singapore, and the UAE, have already enacted market structure regimes and are providing the regulatory clarity yet to be delivered.

The Senate Banking Committee, alongside offices on both sides of the aisle, has spent the better part of two years building toward this moment. Senators Tillis and Alsobrooks deserve credit for resolving the stablecoin yield question in a bipartisan manner, the single most contested provision in months of negotiations. The compromise substantially expands the scope of the prohibition framework in GENIUS across digital asset market participants. The digital assets industry made significant concessions. The resulting approach is restrictive in several respects – ultimately, the broader and most critical objective remains advancing comprehensive market structure legislation, and this agreement moves that process forward.

Nothing is perfect in this process, and legislating is complex, but it’s a result reached through the kind of sustained bipartisan engagement that serious legislation requires. Chairman Scott has managed a difficult process across deep disagreements between the banking industry and the digital asset sector, and the Committee is closer to a durable outcome than it has been at any point in that process.

The window to act is narrow. The legislative calendar leaves limited time to move a bill of this scope through committee, floor consideration and final passage. A markup in the near term is necessary to keep this effort on track and ensure there is a viable path to the President’s desk before year-end.

The CLARITY Act passed the House with 294 votes. That breadth of bipartisan support reflects genuine congressional judgment that clear rules for digital asset markets serve the public interest. The Banking Committee should schedule a markup as soon as possible. The case for moving forward has never been stronger.

The United States should finally establish the clear, durable, fit-for-purpose framework this market – and this country – needs. America has long led the world because it has embraced innovation, markets and the rule of law. Now is the time to do so again.

Note: The views expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of CoinDesk, Inc. or its owners and affiliates.

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