PANews reported on May 4th that Alex Thorn, Head of Research at Galaxy Digital, warned in an article on the X platform that the urgency of advancing the CLARITY Act has increased unprecedentedly, with the core trigger being the heated battle for control of the US Senate in 2026. This bill aims to establish a federal regulatory framework for the crypto market, clarifying the jurisdiction of the SEC and CFTC. It was passed by the House of Representatives in July 2025 with 294 votes and is currently stuck in the Senate Banking Committee's review stage.
Thorn's analysis suggests that if Democrats regain control of the Senate, former Senator Sherrod Brown may return to head the Banking Committee; if Brown loses the Ohio seat but Democrats retain control of the Senate, the committee may be taken over by Elizabeth Warren. Warren is a well-known "hawk" in the crypto industry, a long-time advocate for strict regulation: she has urged the Treasury Department to introduce stringent supporting rules for the GENIUS Act, explicitly prohibiting the use of the Exchange Stabilization Fund or the Federal Reserve's emergency tools to bail out stablecoins and the crypto industry, opposing the inclusion of crypto assets in retirement accounts, and emphasizing their "high volatility, high risk" attributes.
These personnel changes mean that once the Democrats control the Senate, crypto regulation will likely shift towards a more stringent approach of scrutiny and stricter restrictions. Legislation like the Clarity Act, which balances industry demands, will be more difficult to pass and may even be shelved or rewritten. Thorn emphasized that if the bill fails to pass the Senate Banking Committee by the end of April, its chances of being enacted in 2026 will plummet to "extremely low," and it may be delayed until after 2030 due to a reshuffling of congressional power.
