The SEC (U.S. securities regulator) and CFTC (U.S. derivatives regulator) said they would continue crypto rulemaking under existing authority after the Senate voted 49-50 on Sept. 15 against advancing the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, known as the CLARITY Act. The bill required 60 votes and would have created the first comprehensive federal framework for digital asset regulation. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins and CFTC Chair Brian Selig issued statements within 24 hours, with Atkins saying the SEC would act within its statutory authority with or without legislation. Selig called the vote unfortunate and said the CFTC was ready to issue rules addressing crypto markets and President Trump's market-structure pledge. Democrats opposed the bill over concerns about Trump's personal crypto interests and its ethics provisions, while Republicans rejected a Democratic counterproposal. Bernstein analysts expect aggressive and swift agency action, while JPMorgan analysts warned that rules could be reversed by future administrations or challenged in court. Possible areas include native-token classification, DeFi (decentralized finance), self-custody infrastructure and equity tokenization.