After the long-awaited Clarity Act was blocked, the price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency-related equities fell. After falling as low as $75,038 at one point on Tuesday, the price of the most popular cryptocurrency recently was at $75,939, down 4% over the previous day. Lawmakers obstructed the significant digital asset market structure bill during a procedural vote on Tuesday. Major companies in the digital asset space have long called for clear rules to be put in place to regulate the industry. Bitcoin wasn’t the only asset that dropped: BTC-related stocks such as Coinbase and Strategy were also down. America’s largest cryptocurrency exchange experienced a decline of more than 10% in its stock price; meanwhile, Strategy, the foremost corporate holder of bitcoin, saw a decrease of over 5%.
Major publicly traded bitcoin miners experienced a decline in price, with MARA, CleanSpark, and Core Scientific all falling by 5% or more over the past day. Senators predominantly opposed the progression of the legislation – 49 in favour and 50 against – which has been a longstanding request from the digital asset industry. The bill seeks to establish a clear delineation of oversight responsibilities among regulators, specifying the classifications of digital assets as securities, commodities, or stablecoins. Last month, President Donald Trump urged lawmakers to pass it, contributing to a rally in bitcoin. However, Republicans cautioned for several months that Democrats were intentionally stalling it.
And hold it back they did: anti-crypto senator Elizabeth Warren warned congress against voting for the bill on Tuesday, slamming the bill as “a massive risk to families.” Senator Bernie Sanders expressed on X that the bill was “corrupt.” Lawmakers had a problem with the bill because they said it unfairly allowed Trump to make money from the crypto industry. The president’s family has capitalised on various cryptocurrency ventures since Trump assumed office; however, the White House has consistently refuted any allegations of misconduct. “Crypto billionaires have spent nearly $300M on the midterm elections,” added Sanders.
“Meanwhile, Trump and his family have pocketed more than $1.4B from crypto deals.” Pro-crypto senator Cynthia Lummis criticised Democrats for obstructing the bill. Writing on X, the Republican said: “The once-proud Democratic party is anti-consumer and pro-illicit finance, anti-ethics, anti-free enterprise, anti-worker, anti-livable wage jobs, and pro-socialism. The Democrats are now anti-American.”
