For months, the CLARITY Act had become one of crypto’s biggest potential U.S. catalysts. The bill promised something the industry has wanted for years: a more durable framework for deciding how digital assets, exchanges and other market participants fit between the SEC and CFTC. On September 15, that momentum suffered a major setback when the Senate rejected cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 3633. The vote was 49-50, far short of the 60 votes required to move forward.

That does not mean CLARITY is permanently dead. This was a procedural vote on whether to advance the legislation, not final passage of the bill itself. But crypto markets rarely wait around for legislative technicalities. Traders had been pricing in the…