CLARITY Act
Web3 / regulatory frameworks
The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025, a comprehensive US market structure bill passed by the House of Representatives on July 17, 2025 by a vote of 294-134 with bipartisan support, which proposes to resolve the long-standing jurisdictional dispute between the SEC and CFTC over digital assets. The CLARITY Act establishes a classification framework distinguishing 'digital commodities' (subject to CFTC regulation in spot markets) from 'investment contract assets' (subject to SEC oversight), grants the CFTC exclusive jurisdiction over digital commodity spot markets, provides safe harbors for software developers working on blockchain protocols, and excludes fully decentralized DeFi activities from registration requirements. Following House passage, the bill was referred to the Senate Banking Committee, where it stalled amid competing legislative priorities and industry disagreements, particularly over provisions allowing stablecoin interest payments. As of April 2026, Senate progress has been further slowed by President Trump's March 2026 announcement that he would not sign market structure legislation until the SAVE America Act cleared Congress, effectively deprioritizing the CLARITY Act in the legislative calendar. Example: The CLARITY Act's treatment of sufficiently decentralized protocols would have exempted projects like Uniswap from broker-dealer registration requirements by establishing that fully autonomous smart contract systems are not 'digital asset brokers,' a carve-out the crypto industry had sought since the 2021 infrastructure bill first raised concerns about broker reporting requirements for on-chain protocols. Why it matters for Web3: The CLARITY Act, if enacted, would provide the comprehensive regulatory framework the crypto industry has sought since 2018: clear jurisdictional lines, defined registration pathways, and explicit safe harbors for decentralized protocols. Its Senate stalemate as of April 2026 means the fundamental question of whether Bitcoin and Ethereum are securities or commodities, and which regulator governs which crypto activities, remains unresolved federal law despite significant congressional effort.
Explore the full Web3 Glossary — 2,062+ expert-curated definitions. Need guidance? Talk to our consultants.