Bernstein analysts expect “aggressive and swift” rulemaking from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) following the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act's failure to pass a Senate cloture vote on Tuesday.

In a Wednesday note shared with Cointelegraph, the analysts said the two regulatory agencies will publish new regulations to “make up for the time lost negotiating the CLARITY Act.” The outlook puts both market regulators to work: the SEC oversees securities markets in the US, while the CFTC regulates commodities and derivatives trading.

They expect the agency rules to include a token taxonomy for raising capital, developer protection measures covering decentralized finance and self-custodial protocols, innovation exemptions for equity tokenization, faster approval times for real-world asset perpetual futures, and amendments to rules around federal sports event contracts and their classification as swaps.

According to Bernstein, the federal agencies will bring greater regulatory clarity to the industry to compensate for the failure of the CLARITY Act, which would have “fool-proofed the industry against political regime shifts.” The distinction matters for durability: while statutes require congressional action to undo, agency rules can be revised or rescinded by later administrations.

On Tuesday, the US Senate failed to pass a cloture motion — the procedural step to end debate and advance a bill, which typically requires 60 votes — on the CLARITY Act, which would have established the country's first regulatory framework for digital assets. Bernstein's analysts said a re-vote on the act was unlikely, citing a limited time window and concerns over the bill's ethics provisions.

The SEC has already signaled its own path toward rulemaking. On Aug. 19, the regulator proposed new rules to create a “clear and fit-for-purpose framework for certain investment contracts involving crypto assets,” allowing entities to raise capital while preserving investor protections. The proposal offers crypto companies exemptions permitting issuance of up to $5 million in tokens over four years and up to $75 million over 12 months, along with a safe harbor exempting cryptocurrencies from being treated as “investment contracts.” The framework remains a proposal, meaning it would take effect only if finalized through the SEC's rulemaking process.

On July 27, SEC Chair Paul Atkins told CNBC that the agency was “ready, willing, and able to come out with rules” on digital assets if the Senate failed to pass the CLARITY Act. Under Bernstein's outlook, that leaves agency rulemaking — already in motion at the SEC — as the primary near-term channel for US digital asset market rules.