US Crypto Rules Need to Survive the Next Election

Opinion by Andrew M. Cuomo, former governor of New York

The digital asset revolution is here, and it’s already transforming our financial system.

We’re no longer questioning if it will continue to develop. It will. The issue is whether the United States will establish clear, durable rules for it to develop here.

Right now, the answer is no.

The CLARITY Act was intended to solve this problem. It would have provided a national framework for digital assets, clarified the roles of federal agencies including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and given businesses, investors and consumers a clear understanding of the rules.

The House passed the CLARITY Act in 2025, but Congress has yet to send a bill to the president. The Senate failed to advance the Act in September, leaving most to wonder: what happens now?

Those same federal agencies have rushed in with new regulations that significantly restructure the market. Both the SEC and CFTC have been hyper-aggressive in promulgating new rules, filling the void left by Congress, proposing a new federal framework for crypto trading platforms and a bespoke regulatory regime for certain crypto assets.

In the short term, this is great, and we’ll see many new market opportunities as a result. But the reality is that these rules have been adopted in the absence of a market structure law enacted by Congress and rely on agencies’ existing statutory authority, lacking the durability of a new law.

More poignantly from the Democrats’ point of view, they were adopted despite congressional opposition. That means the rules are politically vulnerable from the start.

And hell hath no fury like a Congress scorned.

Related: Is there any chance left to save the CLARITY Act?

The next election could upend the rules

If prediction markets and current electoral trends are to be believed, Democrats will control one, if not both, houses of Congress after the midterms. And the power of Congress to derail and disrupt agency action should never be underestimated.

Democrats have a 64% chance of controlling the Senate. Source: Kalshi

I lived this dynamic when I was in the Clinton administration at the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The 1994 midterm elections swept Republicans into control of the House and Senate. The department’s power was greatly impeded. Oversight intensified, funding became leverage, and Congress used every tool at its disposal to challenge and constrain the administration. It’s what Congress does when it believes the executive branch has gone too far.

Democrats will be looking to prove their claims that the Trump administration was corrupt and that agency actions were designed to benefit individuals personally and political donors collectively. Whether those claims are fair or not, they will drive the politics. And the politics will drive the oversight.

The legislature has many tools at its disposal. Agencies must submit new rules and regulations before they take effect, allowing lawmakers to weigh in. They can limit funding for agency programs, pass legislation overriding agency actions, or use the Congressional Review Act to repeal certain regulations. Congress also has the power to investigate and issue subpoenas that can wreak havoc when coupled with public hearings. Just ask Anthony Fauci and Jack Smith!

Related: Crypto PAC announces support for 32 House candidates in US midterms

Congress must put politics aside

The overall challenge is that private sector technological innovation must be reconciled and aligned with intelligent government regulation. When the CLARITY Act failed, ambiguity prevailed. It’s bad for business, bad for investors, bad for consumers and bad for America.

Companies should not have to guess whether the rules in place today will survive the next election. They should not have to decide whether to build and invest in the United States based on which party controls Washington. They should know what is legal, what is prohibited, who regulates what and how the rules will be enforced.

America deserves a system that encourages innovation while protecting consumers and investors. It deserves rules that prevent illicit activity and protect market integrity. It deserves a framework that companies can rely on when they choose where to hire, invest and build.

Other countries understand this. They are establishing their frameworks, like Europe’s Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) regulation or Singapore’s Payment Services Act, providing regulatory certainty and setting standards. The United States cannot afford to let political gridlock determine the future of financial innovation.

It is essential that a top priority for the next Congress is to put politics aside — even for a moment — and pass bipartisan legislation authorizing digital asset activities, so that companies can invest safely and intelligently in the US.

About the author: Andrew M. Cuomo served as governor of New York from 2011 to 2021 and previously served as New York attorney general and US secretary of Housing and Urban Development. He currently serves on the board of OKX and co-chairs OKXICE, a joint venture between OKX and Intercontinental Exchange focused on tokenized and digitally native financial products.

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