For years, Washington has rightly demanded that digital asset markets operate under stronger consumer protections, meaningful federal oversight, and clear, enforceable rules. The Clarity Act delivers on those priorities. It gives regulators new authority, requires digital asset platforms to meet federal standards, and replaces a system that has confused consumers.
During my years at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, I saw firsthand that clear rules do more than satisfy lawyers and compliance teams. They determine where capital flows, where companies choose to expand, and where the next generation of financial technology is built.
I also saw what happens when the rules are not clear. Ambiguity and uncertainty drive away talent. Investment looks elsewhere, and leadership over the next generation of markets follows.
But when Washington signals that it is serious about creating a workable legal framework, companies plan accordingly. They invest, hire, and build here in the United States. The Senate has an opportunity to demonstrate its support for a durable federal regulatory framework by bringing the Clarity Act to the floor. The time for action is now.
When Congress passed the GENIUS Act last July, we heard some consistent doomsayer predictions: deposit flight, systemic destabilization, banks under siege, and so on. A year later, the stablecoin market has grown 49%, reaching $306 billion. Bank deposits have remained stable. And rather than fleeing oversight, the industry’s largest firms have complied with the law and built their businesses within the clear regulatory framework that GENIUS provides.
In the 83 days following the OCC’s conditional approval of five digital asset companies for national trust bank charters last December, 11 additional firms have filed applications or received approvals. When Senators asked whether regulators have observed massive deposit flight from banks since GENIUS passed, the answer is no.
This is what a well-designed regulatory framework can deliver: Clear rules that allow companies to treat compliance as a competitive advantage rather than an overwhelming legal expense. The Clarity Act presents a straightforward choice — whether the broader digital asset market will continue building its infrastructure in the U.S. or shift that investment and innovation to jurisdictions that have already established a clear path forward.
The companies building the next generation of financial infrastructure are not legacy institutions with decades of relationships in Washington or balance sheets built to withstand years of regulatory ambiguity. They are emerging firms deciding where to hire, incorporate, open offices, and deploy capital. A workable federal framework gives these companies a reason to make commitments in the U.S.
If the Senate does not act before the August recess, the Clarity Act will enter a fall calendar that will be greatly constrained by the midterm elections. The companies making decisions right now about where to build their technology cannot wait for Washington to finish at its own pace. They are reading the signal Congress is sending today. If the Senate leaves for recess without acting, that signal will be hard to miss.
THE NEXT FTX DISASTER IS WAITING TO HAPPEN. CONGRESS HAS THE BLUEPRINT TO STOP IT
America has always led by attracting and cultivating the industries that shape the next era of economic growth. It has done so through the consistent application of something that sounds unremarkable until you try to build without it: Rules that are clear and enforceable, applied in a jurisdiction that intends to keep them that way. That is the offer the GENIUS Act made to stablecoin issuers. It is the offer that the Clarity Act can extend to the rest of the digital asset ecosystem.
The companies we represent are not asking for a subsidy or a carve-out. They are asking for a framework, a safe place to do business that has drawn builders to American markets for two and a half centuries. The Senate’s decision this week will determine whether the U.S. remains the place where the next generation of digital asset markets is built.
Summer Mersinger is a former CFTC commissioner and the CEO of Blockchain Association.