Congress has spent the better part of a decade arguing about who should regulate crypto. The Senate Banking Committee just made its most decisive move yet toward settling that debate.
On May 14, 2026, the committee approved the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, better known as the CLARITY Act, by a 15-9 vote. The tally included all Republicans on the committee plus two Democrats, which in the current political environment qualifies as a genuine bipartisan moment.
Bitcoin noticed. The price briefly crossed $82,000 following the vote, a roughly 2.5% intraday move, before settling around $81,500.
What the CLARITY Act actually does
The CLARITY Act splits regulatory jurisdiction along a commodity-versus-security line. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the CFTC, gets authority over digital assets classified as commodities. The Securities and Exchange Commission, the SEC, retains oversight of anything that qualifies as a security.
