Clarity on CLARITY: What the Senate Vote Means for Crypto Compliance
The CLARITY Act stalled on September 15, 2026, when a procedural Senate vote fell 49 to 50, short of the 60 votes needed to open debate. The bill didn't fail on its substance. It went down over the ethics provision and stablecoin yield, and its anti-money laundering title, which almost nobody opposed, went down with it.
In this on-demand webinar, Summer Mersinger, of the Blockchain Association and a former CFTC commissioner, joins Lana Schwartzman, Notabene's VP of Global Regulatory and Compliance Strategy. They cover what actually happened in the Senate, whether the bill can come back, how far the SEC and CFTC can go without it, and what compliance teams should build now. For background on the bill itself, read our overview of the CLARITY Act.
Key takeaways
- The vote that failed was procedural. It was a cloture vote on the motion to proceed, which needed 60 votes. One senator switched to "no" to keep the motion to reconsider alive, so the bill can return at any point before this Congress ends.
- The lame duck session is the next realistic window. The Senate leaves in September and returns after the November election. Summer puts the odds of passage in the lame duck at roughly 50-50, possibly as part of a year-end package. There is precedent: the GENIUS Act failed its first cloture vote in May 2025 and passed eleven days later.
- The agencies are moving without Congress. On September 17, the SEC issued its innovation exemption for tokenized securities venues, and the CFTC issued no-action Letter 26-25 for passive software providers. The CFTC also sent a crypto market structure rule for White House review. Based on the CFTC chairman's recent speeches, Summer expects it to reach into spot crypto markets.
- Agency action is less durable than a statute. A future administration can withdraw exemptions and no-action letters more easily than formal rules, and new rules are likely to be challenged in court. Summer's advice: "Plan accordingly, but don't lock yourself in."
- Compliance obligations haven't changed. AML, KYC and the Travel Rule already apply. Build to the risks the bill targeted rather than its exact wording, and remember that the safe harbors it would have created don't exist yet.
What compliance teams should build now
Lana's five priorities for 2027 compliance budgets, each taken from the bill that didn't pass:
- A five-pillar AML program with a documented customer identification program (CIP).
- Blockchain analytics built into suspicious activity monitoring. The bill named it twice as an accepted method.
- A written risk analysis before engaging with any DeFi protocol, covering money laundering, sanctions evasion, fraud and market manipulation, and operational and cyber risk.
- A documented procedure for executing, rejecting or suspending transactions on risk grounds, with the reasoning kept on record. The bill's three-year retention period is a sensible benchmark.
- Counterparty due diligence and working Travel Rule data exchange.
The last one was never waiting on Congress. The US Travel Rule has applied to money transmitters since 1996, and FinCEN confirmed in 2019 guidance that it covers convertible virtual currency businesses. EU counterparties have operated under the Transfer of Funds Regulation since December 2024, and FATF Recommendation 16 applies in more than 100 jurisdictions. See our US crypto regulation overview for the current requirements.
Speakers
- Summer Mersinger, of Blockchain Association. Former CFTC commissioner who previously worked on Capitol Hill.
- Lana Schwartzman, VP of Global Regulatory and Compliance Strategy, Notabene.
Talk to our regulatory team
Notabene's Regulatory and Compliance team follows US market structure rulemaking as it happens and works with regulators and industry groups worldwide. If you're planning your US compliance roadmap, or deciding whether to build in the US before the rules settle, book a call with our regulatory experts.
