Crypto for Advisors: The CLARITY Act failed, but the rules came anyway
The Senate’s failure to advance the CLARITY Act leaves U.S. digital-asset rules without a comprehensive legislative framework. The SEC and CFTC are responding with narrower measures: the SEC granted a five-year exemption for eligible venues to trade tokenized U.S. stocks through onchain liquidity pools, while the CFTC eased some barriers for blockchain-related activity. The exemption is limited, including volume caps and no margin, and regulators may change its terms. The commentary argues this permission can support innovation in the short term but lacks the durability of legislation. An accompanying expert Q&A stresses that tokenized stocks may represent direct or indirect ownership—or only synthetic exposure—and investors should verify shareholder rights, custody, liquidity, costs and failure protections.
