US Crypto Industry Awaits Passage of Comprehensive Regulatory Bill

The crypto industry in the United States has been plagued by regulatory uncertainty for years. To address this issue, a comprehensive bill called the CLARITY Act was proposed to provide clear rules for the sector.

According to Bill Hughes, senior counsel and director of global regulatory matters at Consensys, a crypto infrastructure company, passing this bill would help reshore the industry in the US. He pointed out that despite the US dollar being the world's largest fiat on-ramp for cryptocurrency, with over $2.4 trillion in volume between July 2024 and June 2025, most crypto trading takes place on exchanges based outside of the country.

Binance alone accounted for over 38% of all centralized exchange trading volume in December 2025, while Coinbase was the only US-based exchange among the top 10 listed on Coingecko's report for 2025, with a mere 6.1% market share. This highlights the need for clear regulations to encourage projects to build in the US.

The window to pass the bill is closing due to the upcoming midterm elections in November and the preceding campaign season. Hughes noted that the Senate has only weeks to move the bill before the August recess, after which the election calendar takes over.

Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of crypto software company Ripple Labs, also emphasized the importance of passing the CLARITY Act at the Consensus 2026 conference in Miami. He warned that despite recent progress on the bill, its passage into law is not yet guaranteed.