US Midterms: Crypto's Stalled CLARITY Act Awaits a New Congress

Americans are voting today on 470 seats in Congress, and the crypto industry has a lot riding on the result. Its next big bill, the CLARITY Act, is stuck in the Senate. The people elected today will decide whether it moves again.

Results weren't in when this was written, so here's where things stand.

The CLARITY Act Fell 11 Votes Short

On September 15, the Senate held a procedural vote to move the CLARITY Act forward. It failed 49 to 50. The bill needed 60 votes to advance, so it ended up 11 short.

That gap is the reason this election matters for crypto. A procedural vote like that is a gate rather than a final passage vote, and the bill couldn't get through it. A Congress with different members could treat the bill very differently, in either direction.

The industry isn't starting from zero. The GENIUS Act, which sets federal rules for stablecoins, was signed into law by President Donald Trump in July 2025. Stablecoin rules are already settled at the federal level, and CLARITY is the piece still waiting.

Where Crypto Money Is Focused

The Blockchain Association, a crypto trade group, runs an election dashboard that tracks 61 priority races picked by its staff: 18 for the Senate and 43 for the House. That's a small slice of the 470 seats on the ballot, which tells you how targeted the effort is.

Nebraska shows what that targeting looks like in practice. Sen. Pete Ricketts faces independent Dan Osborn, and Ricketts has benefited from nearly $11 million in spending by Fairshake, a crypto industry political group.

Across the whole cycle, crypto industry groups are reported to have spent roughly $176 million on more than 100 races. Treat that number with some care. It traces back to a single news report that couldn't be checked directly, and other tallies of crypto political spending come out differently, likely because they count different groups.

What Today's Results Will Show

The count will answer two questions for crypto. First, how many of the 61 races on the Blockchain Association's list go the industry's way. Second, and more important for the CLARITY Act, whether the new Senate looks any closer to 60 votes than the one that stalled it in September.

Until the results come in, neither answer is known. What is clear is that the industry's main unfinished bill now depends on who wins today.