The Senate failed to invoke cloture on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (H.R. 3633) Tuesday after 40+ senators voted no (unofficial floor webcast tally; official roll call pending), effectively ending US crypto market-structure legislation for 2026. Bitcoin slipped to ~$76,000 (-3%) while Circle (-8%), Coinbase and Bullish extended losses.
The Senate failed to invoke cloture on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (H.R. 3633) Tuesday after 40+ senators voted no (unofficial floor webcast tally; official roll call pending), effectively ending US crypto market-structure legislation for 2026. Bitcoin slipped to ~$76,000 (-3%) while Circle (-8%), Coinbase and Bullish extended losses.
What happened: At 2:15 PM ET Tuesday, the US Senate voted on cloture for the motion to proceed to H.R. 3633, the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act — the marquee bill defining SEC/CFTC jurisdiction over crypto. It failed: 40+ senators voted no per the Senate floor webcast's unofficial tally (official roll call pending at press time). Cloture required 60 yes votes; Republicans hold 53 seats and could not persuade the 7+ Democrats needed.
Key metric: Bitcoin slid back to ~$76,000, down ~3% on the day, after opening Tuesday near $78,200. Crypto-linked equities fell harder: Circle -8%, with Coinbase and Bullish adding to losses as the result became apparent. Total crypto market cap stands near $2.6T.
Comparison: The bill's path was long and genuinely bipartisan until the end: House passage 294-134 in July 2025 (78 Democratic yes votes), Senate Banking Committee 15-9 in May 2026, 126 substantive Democratic changes incorporated into the final text, and a last-minute ethics deal accepted by President Trump. Prediction markets nonetheless saw the failure coming — Polymarket priced passage at just 24-35% on the eve of the vote, and Galaxy Research's Alex Thorn had cut passage odds from 75% in May to ~10% last week.
Why it matters: The failure ends market-structure legislative work in the Senate for 2026, and with split party control expected next Congress, the timeline for statutory crypto rules now runs years, not months. US crypto regulation reverts to SEC/CFTC agency guidance — memoranda a future administration can revise — the exact instability the bill aimed to eliminate. The industry had invested years and hundreds of millions of dollars in lobbying for it. With the FOMC decision landing Wednesday, crypto faces twin macro risk events inside 24 hours.
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