Congress promised to settle digital asset jurisdiction last July. One year later, the CLARITY Act remains stuck in the Senate, and the delay has shifted from a political storyline to a compliance deadline. With rulemaking windows closing, regulator vacancies widening and enforcement actions filling the vacuum, boards and chief compliance officers now face a market structure question Washington has not answered — and may not answer before the recess.

One year ago this week, Washington declared Crypto Week. The U.S. House of Representatives passed three landmark digital asset bills in rapid succession: the CLARITY Act, establishing whether digital assets fall under SEC or CFTC jurisdiction; the GENIUS Act, creating the first federal framework for payment stablecoins; and the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act, which cleared the chamber by a narrow 219‑217 vote. CLARITY passed 294‑134 on July 17, 2025, and GENIUS was signed into law on July 18.

One year later, two of those promises are law.

GENIUS reaches its first major rulemaking deadline on July 18. The anti-CBDC campaign stalled when a promise to attach it to the defense bill went unkept, then crossed the finish line by an unlikely route. A provision barring the Federal Reserve from issuing a central bank digital currency through 2030 rode inside the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act. The president refused to sign it over an unrelated voting dispute involving the SAVE AMERICA Act. The bill, however, held a veto-proof majority and, accordingly, the ROAD Act became law automatically on July 10. The margins, 358‑32 in the House and 85‑5 in the Senate, made his signature unnecessary.

The third promise, and arguably the most consequential, remains stuck in the Senate. That delay is increasingly covered as another episode of congressional gridlock. It should not be. For boards, general counsel, chief compliance officers and risk committees, the Clarity Act stopped being just a political story some time ago. Now, it is also a governance, risk and compliance deadline, as well.

A Marketwide Problem, Not A Single‑Product Fight

GENIUS presented the easier legislative path because it governs a single product within the digital asset economy: the payment stablecoin. The CLARITY bill, however, regulates the entire market. Stablecoins are one category of digital asset; market structure determines how every exchange, broker, custodian, issuer and institutional participant operates. The bill answers the question that determines everything else: whether a given digital asset falls under the jurisdiction of the SEC (securities)........

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