Clarity Act clears Senate committee, but rising yields and sticky inflation cloud crypto's near-term outlook

The Clarity Act passed the Senate Banking Committee 15-9 on May 15, 2026, moving the sweeping digital-asset bill closer to a full Senate floor vote. Bitwise senior research associate Kavi Jain called it "a landmark moment for US digital asset regulation," adding that the clearer framework should be "particularly supportive for tokenisation and smart contract platforms such as Ethereum and Solana" — enabling more institutional activity in stablecoins, tokenized funds and onchain capital markets.

The macro backdrop is working against that optimism in the near term. April inflation came in above expectations, with energy prices — driven by pressures tied to the Iran war — accounting for a large share of the overshoot. Markets now price a Fed rate increase by April 2027, a sharp reversal from the rate-cut expectations that dominated before the conflict. The U.S. also sold 30-year…