CLARITY Act clears Senate gauntlet — but crypto's new regulator may outpace the CFTC's capacity to enforce it!

The CLARITY Act survived a bruising Senate markup session that saw objections from Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Jim Banks, and a bloc of Democrats raising last-minute concerns over national security risks, stablecoin yield provisions, and the implications of President Trump's personal crypto holdings. The bill cleared the gauntlet despite the opposition, marking a significant step toward a formal legislative framework for digital assets in the United States.

The central tension the legislation now faces is structural: the bill designates the CFTC as a primary regulator for a broad swath of crypto markets, but the agency is widely regarded as understaffed and underfunded relative to the scope of oversight the Act would require. Critics argue the regulatory architecture could be in place on paper well before the CFTC has the institutional capacity to enforce it meaningfully.

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