In a major push for U.S. crypto regulation, two of the world’s largest asset managers—Franklin Templeton and BlackRock—have publicly endorsed the CLARITY Act, the most significant piece of digital asset legislation currently before Congress. The endorsements, announced within days of each other, signal a growing alignment between traditional finance and the push for clear crypto market-structure rules.
Franklin Templeton’s support was communicated via an official post on X, marking the firm’s entry into the legislative debate from outside the crypto-native sphere. BlackRock followed with a formal statement provided to Politico, in which Samara Cohen, the firm’s Senior Managing Director and Global Head of Market Development, described the CLARITY Act as “an important step toward establishing a regulatory framework for digital assets that puts investors first.”
The CLARITY Act aims to end years of regulatory ambiguity by dividing oversight of digital assets between two federal agencies: the SEC would retain authority over tokens classified as digital asset securities, while the CFTC would oversee digital commodities. This jurisdictional map is designed to reduce litigation risk for exchanges, custodians, and intermediaries—a precondition many large institutions require before scaling their tokenized funds and on-chain trading operations.
The growing coalition now includes Charles Schwab, Fidelity, Goldman Sachs, Grayscale, Franklin Templeton, and BlackRock. The bill already passed the House in July 2025 with a 294–134 bipartisan vote and cleared the Senate Banking Committee 15–9 in May 2026. However, it still faces a critical hurdle in the full Senate, where it needs at least nine additional votes to reach the 60-vote cloture threshold required for a floor vote. Democratic Senators have raised concerns over ethics provisions and conflict-of-interest rules, making bipartisan support essential.
With the August recess approaching, the window for passage in 2026 is rapidly narrowing. Coinbase Vice Chairman Ryan VanGrack, who first drew attention to BlackRock’s endorsement, emphasized the urgency, stating, “The world’s largest asset manager joins Charles Schwab, Fidelity, Goldman Sachs in backing Clarity. Your turn, Congress.”
While institutional momentum builds, the Senate arithmetic remains the decisive factor. Bitcoin’s price briefly dipped below $65,000 on the day of the BlackRock news, but traders attributed the move primarily to pre-FOMC jitters rather than the legislative development. For the broader crypto market, the outcome of the CLARITY Act will shape the compliance landscape for years to come.
