Key Takeaways
- Grayscale notes crypto will advance even if the CLARITY Act fails, as regulators will fill the gaps.
- A lack of comprehensive US market structure rules could drive new investments and startups overseas.
- Industry leaders agree Bitcoin will thrive regardless, but the US needs clarity to retain leadership.
Grayscale: CLARITY Act Not Passing Could Hamper Crypto Innovation in the US
The crypto industry is already examining a future where the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, which would provide a comprehensive crypto framework with consumer protection and clear guidelines, fails to become law.
Zach Pandl, Head of Research at Grayscale, which manages billions in crypto assets and provides crypto investment products, believes that even if the Senate fails to enact CLARITY, government agencies will step in to fill the current regulatory gaps through comprehensive rulemaking.
Acknowledging that the chances of the CLARITY Act passing this year are slim, even as a vote has already been scheduled for when the Senate reconvenes after the August recess, Pandl declared that the industry will continue as before, with its core proposal untouched.
“CLARITY not passing won’t have an immediate impact on the functioning of major blockchains, the demand for Bitcoin as a store of value, or on the growth of stablecoin payments. The legislation would have provided a more comprehensive rulebook for digital assets in the US, but the industry has moved forward for almost 17 years without it,” he assessed.
Nonetheless, he labels CLARITY’s hypothetical failure a “missed opportunity” that would affect future investments in the U.S., as crypto actors would prefer jurisdictions with defined frameworks where the rules are clearly established, even as the Trump Administration will remain supportive of the crypto ecosystem.
“The lack of comprehensive market structure legislation could hold back new investment activity in the United States… The lack of fulsome market structure regulation in the US may drive entrepreneurial activity overseas on the margin,” Pandl explained.
“Crypto will move forward without CLARITY, supported by expected rulemaking by the SEC and other regulators. However, without comprehensive market structure rules, a greater share of new investment may occur overseas, in our view,” he concluded.
Pandl’s statements align with what other industry figureheads, like Strategy’s Michael Saylor, have pointed out. Recently, Saylor stressed that bitcoin could go on without the CLARITY Act, and that it was America that needed it to maintain its leadership in the crypto industry. “Bitcoin will succeed with or without legislation, but America needs clarity for digital assets,” Strategy’s co-founder and Executive Chairman highlighted in July.
