The U.S. Senate failed to advance the Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act on September 15, with the cloture vote falling 49–50 and short of the 60-vote threshold. Senator Cynthia Lummis said Democrats voted against the measure even after negotiators included the fundraising limits they had requested, including a cut in the annual crypto fundraising cap from $75 million to $50 million and a $200 million lifetime limit.
Senate Democrats voted unanimously against moving forward, while Republicans Susan Collins, Josh Hawley, and Jerry Moran also opposed the procedural motion. The bill had previously passed the U.S. House with substantial bipartisan support, but stalled in the Senate over ethics and financial safeguards tied to President Donald Trump’s cryptocurrency ventures, as well as illicit-finance concerns.
Lummis characterized the caps as rules intended to protect retail investors. After the vote, industry executives said the setback would not reverse regulatory work already underway at the SEC and CFTC, and would not stop banks, asset managers, and crypto firms from continuing to build. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse said the failure left consumers and U.S. competitiveness behind, called the Democratic opposition anti-crypto, and said he would publish a postmortem.
Michael Saylor and Strategy highlighted existing U.S. classifications for Bitcoin, noting that the CFTC treats Bitcoin as a commodity, the IRS recognizes it as property, the SEC has approved spot Bitcoin products, and the Financial Accounting Standards Board treats Bitcoin as a GAAP asset. Lobbying data showed Coinbase spent roughly $2.2 million in the first half of 2026, Kraken close to $1 million, and broader market-structure advocacy exceeded $8 million. The Blockchain Association later announced that Summer Mersinger stepped down as CEO on October 16, with Kristin Smith returning as interim CEO.
