#夏日创作营 The impact on the market after the U.S. crypto market structure bill (Clarity Act) is passed!
First, we need to clarify what the U.S. crypto market structure bill (Digital Asset Market Clarity Act) is actually for, before we can know which industries and which assets will benefit.
1. Redefine the regulatory scope of the SEC and CFTC
Securities and tokenized securities will continue to be regulated by the SEC. Network tokens, digital commodities, and their spot trading markets that meet the conditions will mainly be handed to the CFTC. The Senate version also adds the concepts of “network tokens” and “ancillary assets,” allowing projects to prove, through disclosure and certification procedures, that the tokens no longer depend on the project team’s ongoing operations—moving step by step from securities regulation to digital commodity regulation.
This part is definitely beneficial for some “altcoins,” especially public-chain projects, which can go from being inherently regulated by the SEC to being regulated by the CFTC. But for a purely “token-issuing” project, does that matter?
2. Provide a legal route for token fundraising
Project teams can obtain a waiver under the new Regulation Crypto (crypto asset regulatory rules framework). The maximum funding per year is $50 million, with a four-year cumulative cap of $200 million in principle, and it also requires submitting initial and semi-annual disclosures. This will greatly reduce the risk that, when U.S. projects raise funds through token financing, the SEC will determine it to be an illegal securities offering.
The benefit here is a legitimate “ICO” for the project, and whether the project team will pump the price doesn’t really have any fundamental benefit either. For token launch platforms, there’s also not much benefit, because compliant ICO companies will most likely conduct launches on compliant launch platforms.
3. Establish a regulatory framework for U.S. spot crypto exchanges
Digital commodity exchanges, brokers, and market makers need to register with the CFTC, and be required to implement customer asset segregation, conflict-of-interest management, market surveillance, information disclosure, anti-money laundering, and sanctions compliance. When digital commodities held by customers are subject to an exchange bankruptcy, they will also be explicitly recognized as customer property, reducing the risk of another FTX-style mixing of assets.
This is beneficial for compliant U.S. trading platforms like Coinb and Robinhood, but the actual impact on Coinb is very low. Coinb’s compliance is already sufficient; everything that needed to be registered has been registered. Also, Coinb is a publicly listed company, and the market cares even more about performance. So you could say that, on the compliance front, Coinb is already at the top among crypto exchanges in the U.S. Of course, it’s beneficial for platforms like Coinb and Robinhood to launch new businesses—for example, tokenized securities—because it indeed expands the scope. And for other exchanges that are preparing to enter the U.S., or exchange branches that are operating in the U.S., the difficulty has increased.
4. DeFi developers, people running self-custody and non-custodial infrastructure who only develop software, run nodes, validate transactions, or provide non-custodial services will not automatically be deemed securities brokers or funds transmitters just because their code is used by others. Federal agencies also may not generally prohibit individuals from using self-custody wallets. However, teams that can freeze users, control protocols, and have special permissions may still be viewed as centralized controllers, and would need to assume AML, sanctions, and financial institution obligations.
This sounds like a benefit for DeFi, but in reality, if it’s purely DeFi or decentralized wallets, it’s still fine. But if a DeFi project on-chain involves protocols that may have money-laundering risk—like Tornado Cash earlier, and many privacy protocols—it will still be taken seriously. Also, you could say this “benefit” is something that wasn’t really considered before, and now it probably still won’t be considered. Back then it was risk, and now the risk is greater. Would it become a reason for DeFi projects to pump?
5. Stablecoin yield is restricted
At the moment, the biggest controversy in the market is this clause. Exchanges and service providers may not simply pay passive yield similar to bank deposit interest just because users hold stablecoins. But rewards that come from actual payments, trading, or activities are still allowed. Stablecoin issuance regulation is mainly handled by the already passed GENIUS Act (Clarity Act). CLARITY (Clarity Act) focuses more on how stablecoins are used on trading platforms and across the overall market structure.
Many friends think the biggest benefit after the Clarity Act passes is stablecoins—like
$CRCL or
$USD1 . But in fact, based on current progress, the Clarity Act imposes limitations on stablecoin development, especially for interest-bearing or subsidy schemes that were likely not allowed to continue after the Clarity Act passes. In other words, Coinb’s 3.5% interest to USDC, and USD1’s airdrop of
$WLFI to users—fundamentally, both are prohibited by the Clarity Act. This is not a benefit for stablecoin development. While it saves some capital, it may limit market expansion. Of course, if stablecoins and exchanges can find more suitable subsidy schemes and route around the Clarity Act, there is still a chance.
So personally, I think if the Clarity Act includes restrictions on stablecoin subsidies, you won’t find reasons for a boost to Circle. If it’s only about compliance, honestly, Circle is already sufficiently compliant in the U.S. The problems it faces are the same as Coinb’s: for a listed company, the market cares mostly about performance.
6. Banks can participate more clearly in blockchain business
Banks, bank holding companies, and credit unions can conduct blockchain payments, custody, lending, and trading within existing business permissions, while also enabling combination margin between securities, futures, and digital commodity accounts.
Banks may collateralize certain cryptocurrencies or tokenized securities for loans and lending. This is definitely a positive for certain parts, and for some bank stocks it should be good as well—but which ones will benefit from yield, it’s hard to say for sure.
So overall, U.S. compliant exchanges are the most affected in terms of business expansion— the more compliance advantages they have, the easier it will be for them to enter new tracks quickly. So if the Clarity Act is passed, I think it would give $COIN relatively bigger advantages. But for certain decentralized exchanges, it may cause trouble. Custody, RWA, and tokenized infrastructure are positive on a medium- to long-term basis; especially in areas related to tokenized securities.
However, with the compliance of major exchanges’ U.S. listed stocks, on-chain RWA demand or on-chain demand for U.S. listed stocks will gradually be compressed. Next, there will be some help for public-chain categories—at the very least, they won’t be called out and attacked by the SEC. But public chains are more like listed companies. It’s not the case that if the SEC stops regulating them, they will definitely be able to pump. The best example is $ETH : spot ETFs have passed, and the SEC has acknowledged that they are not securities. But now they’re still kind of stuck in limbo—so the policy may have a push effect, yet how long that effect can last is still not something to be optimistic about.
Then DeFi, wallets, and developer infrastructure can also benefit. But personally, I feel it’s more targeted at developers than at any specific field or project. Especially for DeFi projects, whether they pump still depends on the dog-parkers.
As for stablecoins, I believe that when it’s passed, it may let $CRCL get pulled up a bit—but that would be purely emotion-driven. In reality, if there’s no change to the restrictions on stablecoin subsidies, I think the Clarity Act is actually negative for stablecoins.
