Delays in the CLARITY Act have caused market uncertainty, with nearly $1 billion in crypto outflows recently.
Despite setbacks and prolonged legislative wrangling, a senior executive at Coinbase says the US Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act remains on course, reinforcing industry hopes for long‑awaited clarity in cryptocurrency regulation.
“I completely understand why this is taking longer,” Coinbase Institutional head of strategy John D’Agostino said during an interview on CNBC on Friday. Adding that it was the kind of bill that was more foundational to the growth of crypto, or any real asset class, and emphasized that it therefore made sense for the process to take some time.
The CLARITY Act, he said, was far more complicated than the GENIUS Act, the stablecoin legislation that was enacted into US law in July, as the two bills address different levels of the crypto ecosystem.
While he conceded the Genius Act was “not simple, but transformative,” he added that it focused on areas such as stablecoin issuance and oversight, which are structurally easier to regulate than broader market structure bills that reshape how digital asset markets operate, interact with regulators, and protect investors.
The comments came only a few weeks after White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks announced that the CLARITY Act could obtain approval as soon as January. Speaking on December 19, Sacks said the administration was now closer than ever to passing the groundbreaking crypto market structure legislation that President Trump had called for, and he believed lawmakers would get it done in January.
D’Agostino also added that he was bullish on the CLARITY Act passing, citing greater global momentum to regulate cryptocurrency. He cited the European Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework and the United Arab Emirates’ own ongoing efforts to achieve regulatory clarity as signs of mounting pressure on the United States to act. He also acknowledged what he called an enormous exodus of talent from the US to other countries, and said such a trend could increase pressure on lawmakers to push through the CLARITY Act in 2026.
Some of the urgency that was behind passing the Genius Act, he said, was designed to slow that drain of talent. Once lawmakers returned to session and were able to assess developments in the sector fully, D’Agostino said, a similar sense of urgency would arise, fueled by an anxiety that the United States would fall further behind in transformational technologies like artificial intelligence and blockchain.
CoinShares recently reported that crypto investment products experienced approximately $952 million in outflows during the week ending December 19, attributing the decline to delays in passing the CLARITY Act.
The firm explained that prolonged regulatory uncertainty in the United States had led investors to become more cautious. At the same time, fears that large holders, often referred to as whales, would sell their assets had added to the pressure. According to CoinShares, this uncertainty has eroded confidence and led some investors to withdraw funds from crypto funds in the short term.
At the same time, veteran trader Peter Brandt said the possible passage of the CLARITY Act was unlikely to cause a major move in Bitcoin’s price. He said the legislation was important and necessary for the long-term health of the crypto market, but he did not see it as a major global event. Brandt explained that while clearer rules could help the industry grow over time, the bill was not something that would suddenly change Bitcoin’s value or immediately push prices much higher or lower.
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