Justin Slaughter, Vice President of Regulatory Affairs at crypto investment firm Paradigm, has issued a sobering forecast regarding the U.S. crypto market structure legislation, warning that its full implementation could span nearly two presidential terms even if passed into law. The bill, known as the CLARITY Act (Clarity for Digital Tokens Act of 2024), has advanced to the Senate committee stage, with a markup scheduled for Thursday with the Senate Banking Committee, while the Senate Agriculture Committee has delayed its hearing until January 27.
Slaughter's analysis, shared in a post on X, hinges on the extensive rulemaking process mandated by the bill. He stated that the legislation alone requires 45 separate rulemakings, a process that involves federal agencies publishing proposed rules, seeking public comment, and issuing final regulations. "The process of implementing this bill will not just run through this presidential term, it will probably run through the entirety of the next one," Slaughter predicted.
Drawing a historical parallel, Slaughter cited the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, a major financial reform that took regulators from 2013 to 2018—3 to 8 years after passage—to finalize most of its non-CFTC rules. "Dodd-Frank still isn't finished today," he added, underscoring the protracted nature of such bureaucratic undertakings.
The bill's path to becoming law remains uncertain. Slaughter noted that major legislation often "die[s] a few times before it ultimately came though." He will be watching the upcoming Senate Banking Committee markup to see if the bipartisan process holds. If passed by both the House and Senate and signed by President Donald Trump, the bill would then trigger the multi-year rulemaking phase, which includes complex coordination between the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as the CLARITY Act designates the CFTC as a primary regulator for many digital assets.
This extended timeline means prolonged regulatory uncertainty for the crypto industry, which has long sought clarity from U.S. lawmakers. It could delay investment decisions, impact innovation, and potentially incentivize regulatory arbitrage as businesses may look to jurisdictions with faster-acting regimes. However, a deliberate process could also lead to more durable and well-considered regulations.
