A 50–49 Senate vote against advancing the CLARITY Act left the proposal 10 votes short of the 60 needed to begin debate and heightened concerns that crypto companies could adopt more custodians, restricted frontends and administrator keys. GenLayer Labs CEO and co-founder Albert Castellana said regulation should focus on who controls funds, transactions or rule changes rather than whether an entire project is labeled decentralized. The bill would have divided oversight between the SEC (U.S. securities regulator) and CFTC (U.S. derivatives regulator), giving the CFTC authority over qualifying digital commodities and registered spot-market intermediaries while preserving SEC jurisdiction over securities. The GENIUS Act provides clearer rules for payment-stablecoin issuers, including reserves and redemptions, but leaves open questions involving decentralized finance (financial services using blockchain protocols), self-hosted wallets and trading applications. Bitwise Chief Investment Officer Matt Hougan called the vote a speed bump rather than a roadblock, noting that Bitcoin rose from $57,950 on July 1 to above $80,000 on Sep. 4 as passage odds declined. The vote nonetheless coincided with losses across major crypto assets, including declines of 3.7% for BTC, 5.2% for ETH and 7.3% for XRP, while liquidations reached $669 million. The House passed H.R. 3633 by 294–134 in July 2025, but any revived Senate version would require House approval or reconciliation before reaching the president.