Coinbase-Backed Crypto Group Warns of Midterms Payback After Clarity Act Fails

The Senate on Tuesday failed to secure the 60 votes needed to advance the Clarity Act, halting a procedural step toward floor consideration. Supporters of the measure said the bill would create a federal framework for digital assets and divide regulatory responsibility between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Stand With Crypto, an advocacy group backed by Coinbase, immediately framed the vote as a setback for the crypto community and announced plans to incorporate senators’ votes on the bill into its public lawmaker scorecards. The group said it will continue mobilizing its roughly three million advocates and highlighted prior outreach efforts such as nearly 50,000 constituent calls and emails in August, local events, and opinion pieces placed in newspapers.

Negotiations ahead of the vote had produced disputes over several provisions, including ethics restrictions, protections for software developers, and oversight rules for crypto trading firms. Democrats offered a counterproposal Monday following a Republican revision released Sunday, leaving lawmakers split when the cloture motion failed. Separately, banking groups lobbied for stricter limits on stablecoin reward structures, arguing some payments resemble interest and could affect bank deposits and lending; stablecoins are typically pegged to the dollar.

Stand With Crypto’s leaders said the vote results will become a central element of their election work, pointing to endorsements of incumbent House candidates and promising to hold lawmakers accountable at the ballot box. The group framed the outcome as a clear signal of which officials they view as aligned with the crypto community and said it will keep campaigning until the Clarity Act is enacted.