Senate Fails to Advance Major Crypto Bill After Bipartisan Talks Collapse

The Senate on Sept. 15 failed to advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, the broadest congressional effort yet to write federal rules for much of the U.S. cryptocurrency market, after bipartisan negotiations fell apart just before the vote.

Senators voted 49-50 against invoking cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 3633, the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025, in Record Vote No. 234. The failed procedural vote stalled the bill in the chamber and halted what had been the most significant pending attempt to create a national market-structure framework for digital assets.

The setback matters because the bill was designed to answer a basic question that has hung over the industry for years: which federal regulator oversees what parts of the crypto market. Supporters said it would have given exchanges, brokers, custodians, issuers and investors clearer statutory rules instead of leaving the sector largely governed by a shifting mix of agency action, regulatory guidance and courtroom fights.

The measure had already passed the House on July 17, 2025. In the Senate, the Banking Committee advanced it earlier this year, reporting a substitute on May 14, 2026, before it was placed on the Senate calendar June 1.

The Sept. 15 vote broke largely along party lines, but four Republicans voted no: Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Jerry Moran of Kansas and Thom Tillis of North Carolina. Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., was not recorded as voting. Tillis entered a motion to reconsider later the same day, a procedural move that keeps the bill technically alive even though it is now stalled.

The collapse followed a last-minute breakdown in bipartisan talks. Senate Republican sponsors had circulated a revised “final” draft over the Sept. 13-14 weekend and said it reflected many Democratic requests. But negotiations still unraveled before the Tuesday vote.

The main disputes centered on ethics rules, the role of state enforcement and provisions related to stablecoin rewards. Democrats pressed for stronger conflict-of-interest language, especially on whether senior officials, including the president, would be clearly barred from benefiting from crypto holdings while influencing federal policy. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., said, “At a minimum, any serious crypto legislation must include meaningful ethics requirements that prevent the president and other senior government officials from profiting off the policies they oversee.”

Another sticking point was whether the federal framework would curb the authority of state attorneys general and other state enforcers. Concerns also emerged around stablecoin yield or rewards provisions, which drew skepticism not only from Democrats but also from some Republicans and community-bank interests.

Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., one of Congress’ most prominent crypto advocates, blamed Democrats after the vote. “This afternoon, Senate Democrats proved they were never truly serious about protecting consumers and preserving American leadership,” she said in a public statement. “I sat at the table with Senate Democrats working in good faith to get this done while they played games.”

At its core, the bill would have created a statutory framework for digital assets by spelling out when a token or other asset should be treated as a digital commodity or a digital security. It also would have drawn firmer lines between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which regulates derivatives markets, and created a CFTC registration and oversight pathway for spot digital-commodity exchanges, brokers and dealers. It also included rules on custody, disclosure and anti-fraud protections.

The push came months after a March 17, 2026, joint interpretive release from the SEC and CFTC clarified parts of the regulatory landscape. But that release did not settle the broader market-structure debate, and the CLARITY Act would have put more expansive allocations of power and operating rules into statute.

Following the vote, market reporting said bitcoin, other major crypto assets and some crypto-linked stocks moved lower. More broadly, the bill’s failure leaves crypto firms without the comprehensive federal framework Congress had been considering, preserving the patchwork system that has defined U.S. crypto regulation to date.