By Elena Voss
On September 15, 2026, the Senate did not advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act. That does not mean digital assets are unregulated. It means the next year of U.S. rules will come from agencies, not from a single statute that draws a clean line between the SEC and the CFTC.
The CFTC has an open effort aimed at crypto trading and is working against a comment deadline in December 2026. The SEC is moving on offerings, transfer agents, and custody. The OCC and state trust regimes continue to matter for firms that want to hold customer assets without becoming a bank in the ordinary sense.
For exchanges, the practical question is which permission you will seek if the statute never arrives. Waiting for clarity is a strategy only if you can describe the permission you will hold in the meantime.
For funds and corporates, the stall is a reason to tighten diligence, not to pause it. Ask a venue what happens to customer assets in an insolvency under the law that applies today. If the answer depends on a bill, it is not an answer.
We expect more no-action and exemptive requests, and more private remediation, in place of the big legislative moment the industry planned around. That is slower. It is also where matters are actually being decided.
This note is general information, not advice about your facts. Read the disclaimer.