Overview
- Democrats now hold both chambers of Congress, a shift that makes the industry-backed CLARITY Act less likely to pass in its prior form and prompts fresh policy reviews.
- Reporting indicates House Democrats are in early-stage talks to fold Representative Maxine Waters’ Crypto Investor and Consumer Bill of Rights into a broader market-structure proposal, but those plans remain unfinalized.
- One reported element would increase the SEC’s supervisory role over digital-asset firms and reduce some CFTC responsibilities, a change that focuses the debate on which regulator oversees crypto markets.
- Regulators and the White House can still change policy without new legislation through SEC and CFTC rulemaking, nominations, and the administration’s existing Strategic Bitcoin Reserve executive order.
- Crypto industry groups spent heavily in the midterms and say they delivered many pro-crypto lawmakers, a dynamic that could keep bipartisan deal-making possible even as Democrats press for stronger custody and investor safeguards.