For nearly two years, the crypto industry’s Washington strategy rested on a single word: clarity.

Pass a market-structure law, the thinking went, and the rest would follow. That strategy hit a wall—and now the industry’s focus has shifted from Congress to federal regulators.

Last week, the Senate failed to advance the Clarity Act, the sweeping market-structure bill more than a year in the making, in a 49-50 procedural vote that fell well short of the 60 needed. Democrats voted against it, with three Republicans joining them, after months of negotiations foundered on ethics provisions tied to President Donald Trump’s crypto…