Senate Rejects CLARITY Act, Ripple CEO Blames Democrats

The U.S. Senate rejected a procedural vote to advance the CLARITY Act on September 15, falling short of the 60 votes needed to move the landmark cryptocurrency market structure bill forward. The final tally was 49-50, with four Republican senators joining Democrats in voting against cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 3633. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, whose company had been a leading industry advocate for the legislation, called the defeat a painful loss. "This one stings," Garlinghouse wrote on social media, adding that his team and most of the industry "gave everything we had to get the Clarity Act across the finish line." He blamed Democratic opposition, stating that "the politics of the democrats the anticrypto army was elevated over good policy." Despite the setback, Garlinghouse expressed optimism about the future of crypto regulation in the United States. He pointed to ongoing rulemaking by the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission as the next critical step.