The proposed CLARITY Act aimed at regulating digital assets failed in the U.S. Senate, with a vote tally of 49 in favor and 50 against.

Democratic senators opposed the bill due to concerns regarding cryptocurrency assets and the financial interests of President Donald Trump.

Cryptocurrency and Stock Market Decline

Following the news, Bitcoin dropped to $75,038. At the time of writing, the leading cryptocurrency was trading at $75,825, reflecting a 1.9% decline over the day.

Hourly chart of BTC/USDT on Binance. Source: TradingView.

Altcoins also suffered losses: Ethereum decreased by 3.4%, Solana by 4.1%, and XRP by 8.3%. The GMCI 30 index, which tracks the 30 largest crypto assets, fell by 4.16%.

Stocks of related companies followed suit, with shares of Coinbase and Circle plummeting by over 10%. Strategy's stock dropped by 5.4%, and BitMine's shares fell by 8.4%.

Record Outflow from Bitcoin ETFs

In light of the bill's failure, spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded their largest outflow since late June. On September 15, investors withdrew $450.33 million from 13 U.S. funds, following a previous influx of $160.04 million the day before.

Source: SoSoValue.

Fidelity's FBTC product lost $214.75 million, followed by BlackRock's IBIT with $161.69 million, Grayscale's GBTC with $44.14 million, ARK 21Shares' ARKB with $17.38 million, and Bitwise's BITB with $12.36 million.

Community Reactions

Market participants expressed disappointment over the voting results. The industry is now looking towards new regulations from the SEC and CFTC.

Jessica Martinez, Fireblocks’ U.S. policy director, stated that the company will continue to engage with both agencies. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse described the results as "painful" and urged a deeper investigation into the reasons for the rejection.

1/ This one stings. Our team gave everything we had to get the Clarity Act across the finish line. So did most of the industry. This was an opportunity bigger than Ripple or one company - we did this for the industry, for consumers and to cement the US’s position as the crypto…

— Brad Garlinghouse (@bgarlinghouse) September 15, 2026

Before the vote, SEC Chair Paul Atkins promised to develop clear rules for the crypto market. However, businesses doubt that the agencies' policies will provide the same level of assurance as a comprehensive law.

Abhishek Vaidyanathan, chief legal counsel at NEAR, noted that companies are now entirely reliant on regulators' decisions and directives.

"Firms planning budgets for 2027 will face yet another delay. This brings them back to evaluating each individual case and endless legal work," he added.

Elvin Kan, COO of Bitget Wallet, emphasized that the halt of the CLARITY Act perpetuates uncertainty. It remains unclear how securities and money transfer regulations apply to crypto products.

Wincent Paul Howard, a senior director, believes that the voting outcome reflects traditional banks' fear of losing market share rather than flaws in crypto technologies. He considers the discussion of market structure at this level a significant achievement.

Chances for Future Passage

Political opinions vary: while some officials deem the project "dead," Republican Senator Thom Tillis promised to continue working on the legislation.

1inch chief legal counsel Orest Gavrilyak urged stakeholders to view the situation as a delay rather than a finality, reminding that laws of this magnitude are rarely passed immediately.

Abhishek Vaidyanathan from NEAR is less optimistic, suggesting that the next Congress will address the crypto market structure. The Senate's schedule is heavily constrained before the elections on November 3.

Analysts' Perspectives

Justin d’Anetain, head of research at Arctic Digital, believes that the failure of the initiative did not deal a fatal blow to the market.

"Previous historical highs were reached without the CLARITY Act. The market will continue to move based on supply and demand dynamics," he explained.

D’Anetain added that major players view the current situation as merely a delay and not a closure of opportunities.

BTC Markets analyst Rachel Lucas noted that regulation has never been the primary bottleneck for the industry. The current cycle is predominantly influenced by macroeconomic factors rather than news. Key market drivers include:

  • the Federal Reserve's actions regarding interest rates;
  • the inflow dynamics into ETFs;
  • alternative regulatory paths that do not require 60 Senate votes.

According to Lucas, capital is not leaving the industry but being redistributed. The ETH/BTC pair rose by 25% in the third quarter, while anonymous coins gained 213% since the peak in October. This asset rotation alleviates panic among investors.

However, there is pressure from miners, with Bitcoin's hash rate down 12% from its peak in December 2025 as large miners shift their resources towards AI computations.

"For recovery in the fourth quarter, we need not Congress, but stabilization of the macroeconomy," concluded Lucas.

Experts agree that the current interest rate level for Bitcoin is more crucial than regulatory clarity from authorities.

Following the bill's rejection, the probability of the CLARITY Act being signed into law in 2026 on the Polymarket platform has plummeted to 5%, marking its lowest point since the market's inception in January.

Source: Polymarket.

It is worth noting that on September 14, President Donald Trump agreed to tighten restrictions on cryptocurrency business officials.