On Sept. 15, the US Senate failed to advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act after a procedural cloture vote did not clear the 60-vote threshold, preventing the bill from moving to floor debate and a final vote.

The failed vote was procedural rather than a final up-or-down decision on the bill itself. According to reporting cited in the available materials, the Senate’s cloture vote ended 49-50, below the 60 votes needed to move the measure forward. That means the chamber did not begin substantive floor consideration of the legislation.

The CLARITY Act was designed to set clearer federal rules for digital asset oversight, including a more defined split between securities regulation and commodities regulation. In practice, that debate centers on how authority would be shared between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Ripple said the outcome was a missed opportunity for consumers and the digital asset industry. The result also kept attention on a broader issue that extends beyond any single token: how US exchanges and other crypto businesses are expected to operate when there is still no comprehensive market-structure law in force.

The bill had made earlier progress before reaching this procedural hurdle. In May, it advanced out of the Senate Banking Committee with bipartisan support, and a revised text was later prepared ahead of the Sept. 15 vote. Materials tied to the final pre-vote push said the updated version included extensive changes requested during negotiations, including revisions tied to government ethics provisions.

Why It Matters

This vote matters because it leaves one of the crypto industry’s core US policy questions unresolved: which federal regulator has primary authority over different parts of the digital asset market. Until Congress settles that issue, companies are still operating in a system shaped by overlapping oversight, committee negotiations, and case-by-case regulatory pressure.

It also shows that institutional and industry support alone is not enough to carry market-structure legislation through the Senate. Even after committee progress and last-minute revisions, the bill could not clear the procedural threshold, suggesting that US crypto policy may continue to move more slowly than parts of the market had hoped.