Crypto stocks sink after Senate rejects Clarity Act

Crypto-focused equities fell sharply Tuesday after the Senate failed to secure the votes needed to move the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act forward. Large exchanges and infrastructure firms led the slide: Coinbase dropped roughly 9% to about $174, Circle slid 9.4% to around $88, and Galaxy Digital lost about 8%. The procedural motion on the bill was defeated 49-50, well short of the 60 votes required to advance the measure. The Clarity Act would have defined how different tokens and blockchain projects are treated under U.S. law and expanded the Commodity Futures Trading Commissions authority over spot crypto markets. Investors also faced broader market headwinds ahead of a Federal Reserve decision expected to conclude with a rate hike, which contributed to risk-off positioning. Bitcoin fell roughly 3% over the prior 24 hours and briefly approached $75,000, while major U.S. indices such as the Nasdaq and S&P 500 traded lower. The bills failure marks a setback for an industry that has spent years and, by its own accounts, hundreds of millions of dollars in campaign contributions pushing for comprehensive federal legislation. Without the Clarity Act, firms will have to wait longer for the kind of regulatory certainty many say is necessary for long-term planning in the U.S.