The Securities and Exchange Commission has scheduled a high-stakes CLARITY Act roundtable for Thursday in Washington, bringing together commissioners, CFTC counterparts, congressional staff, and industry leaders to formalize a framework for how the U.S. will regulate digital assets going forward. The roundtable is the most public and structured engagement between the SEC and the crypto industry under chair Paul Atkins, who succeeded Gary Gensler in January 2025.
The CLARITY Market Structure Act, which passed the House on a 312-118 bipartisan vote in March 2026, splits jurisdiction along economic-substance lines: the SEC retains authority over digital securities (tokenized equities, debt, and certain investment contracts), while the CFTC gains primary authority over digital commodities such as bitcoin, ether, and most spot tokens with no associated promoter-controlled enterprise. Senate passage is targeted before the August recess.
Industry Stakes
Coinbase (COIN), Robinhood (HOOD), Gemini, Kraken and Bitstamp will be represented at the roundtable, as will issuers BlackRock, Fidelity, Bitwise, ARK Invest, Franklin Templeton and Galaxy Digital. The principal industry asks: explicit safe harbors for non-custodial software, formal recognition of the Howey-test exit pathway, and a unified registration regime that does not duplicate state money-transmitter licensing.
A second focus is the GENIUS Act, the bipartisan stablecoin-charter bill sponsored by Sens. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY). Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott has scheduled a floor vote for May 14, and Polymarket pricing assigns 76% probability to passage before August. Tether's USDT and Circle's USDC together account for 88% of the global $324 billion stablecoin float, of which roughly $186 billion is held in U.S. Treasuries.
Equity Read-Through
Coinbase shares closed Monday up 2.4% at $327.80, with year-to-date gains of 31% reflecting expectations that legislative clarity will sharply expand the firm's addressable market. Robinhood (HOOD