The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, or CLARITY Act, is moving in the right direction, despite the growing impatience of the crypto industry, according to the CEO of Coinbase.
“I completely understand why this is taking longer,” Coinbase Institutional chief strategy officer John D’Agostino said he said during an interview with CNBC on Friday.
“It’s the kind of legislation that, frankly, is more fundamental to the growth of crypto or any real asset class,” he said, stressing that it makes sense for the process to take some time.
He said the CLARITY Act is much more complex than the Genius Act, the stablecoin bill that was passed into US law in July.
While he acknowledged that the Genius Act is “not simple, but transformative,” he said it “deals with structurally simpler things than market structure laws.”
A “mass flight of talent” will trigger the law
It comes just weeks after White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks said the CLARITY Act could get the green light in January.
“We are closer than ever to passing the significant crypto market structure legislation that President Trump has called for. We look forward to completing the work in January,” he said on December 19.
D’Agostino said he is confident the CLARITY Act will be passed soon, pointing to the growing momentum for crypto regulation globally, including Europe’s MiCA regulations and the United Arab Emirates’ continued progress in regulatory clarity.
He also acknowledged a “mass flight of talent” from the US to other countries, which could only put more pressure on lawmakers to pass the CLARITY 2026 Act.
“Part of the rush to finish Genius was to stop that bleeding,” he said.
“I think once we get back into session and everyone can take their time to absorb what’s going on, that same burning platform will emerge where we really don’t want the US to be as far behind as it has been on transformative technologies like artificial intelligence and blockchain,” he added.
Clarity Act delays have led to market uncertainty, CoinShares says
CoinShares recently attributed $952 million in outflows from crypto-investment products during the week ending December 19 to delays in the passage of the CLARITY Act, citing extended “regulatory uncertainty and whale-selling concerns”.
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Meanwhile, veteran trader Peter Brandt said that the potential passage of the US CLARITY Act is unlikely to have a significant impact on the price of Bitcoin.
“Is it a world-shaking macro development? No. It’s needed for sure, but not something that should redefine value,” Brandt told Cointelegraph.
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