Blockchain Legal Resource

In mid-January 2026, key Senate committees published discussion drafts of market structure legislation for comprehensive federal regulation of digital assets. The Senate Banking Committee’s version of the bill is called the “Digital Asset Market Clarity Act.”  The Senate Agriculture Committee’s version of the bill is called the “Digital Commodity Intermediaries Act.”

On May 29, 2025, a bipartisan group of members in the House of Representatives from the Financial Services and Agriculture Committees introduced the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act. The bill seeks to establish a comprehensive regulatory framework for digital assets in the United States, with regulatory jurisdiction primarily split between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

On March 9, 2022, the Biden Administration released its much-anticipated “Executive Order on Ensuring Responsible Development of Digital Assets” (“Executive Order”). The White House describes the Executive Order as the “first whole-of-government strategy” on digital assets and attempts to strike a balance between encouraging innovation and U.S. leadership in the digital asset space, while signaling an appetite to protect against a variety of stated risks through additional regulation and legislation.

As has been widely reported, President Biden has nominated Gary Gensler to be the next chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission.  After becoming one of the youngest partners at a leading Wall Street investment bank, Gensler transitioned into government service as a senior official in President Clinton’s Treasury Department and as the chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission under President Obama.  While at the CFTC, Gensler was the principal architect of the sprawling Dodd-Frank Act’s provisions regulating the swaps markets, and he worked tirelessly to implement new CFTC rules regulating the space.  He has deep experience both in the financial markets and as a regulator.