Strategy Founder Michael Saylor Says Blocked Clarity Act Is a Win for Crypto
Key Takeaways
- •Michael Saylor, founder and chairman of Strategy, said the Clarity Act's failure is positive for crypto because legislation can cement restrictions just as readily as it can secure rights.
- •Senators voted 49 in favor and 50 against advancing the bill on Tuesday, leaving it short of a majority.
- •The legislation was designed to divide regulatory oversight by classifying digital assets as securities, commodities, or stablecoins.
- •Saylor pointed to ongoing SEC and CFTC rulemaking, including conditional relief for onchain trading of certain tokenized stocks, as the main remaining path to the industry's needed rules.
- •Saylor also argued that provisions such as limits on paying customers for holding payment stablecoins would not have helped the crypto space anyway.
Strategy founder and chairman Michael Saylor has argued that the blockage of the Clarity Act is actually good for the digital asset space, saying legislation can make restrictions permanent just as easily as rights.
Writing on X on Saturday, the Strategy founder and chair weighed in after lawmakers this week blocked the long-awaited crypto legislation, which aims to formally divide oversight between regulators. The digital asset industry had long called for such rules to be in place.
— Michael Saylor (@saylor) September 19, 2026
Despite the legislative hurdle, regulators such as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) are pushing ahead with rulemaking. With the bill stalled, that agency-led work is now the main route through which the industry could still obtain the clarity the legislation was designed to provide.
"We have an administration willing to modernize financial markets. We should use the next two years to put better financial products into people's hands," Saylor wrote.
He continued: "Let the Assets industry innovate rapidly in a free market and create the greatest possible value for the U.S. and global economy."
Saylor, whose company Strategy started buying bitcoin in 2020, argued that watchdogs moving forward with rules regardless — such as the SEC's conditional relief for onchain trading of certain tokenized stocks and the CFTC chairman's stated willingness to act without the bill — would give crypto companies the regulation they need.
He went on to argue that proposals in the act, such as limits on paying customers for holding payment stablecoins, would not benefit the crypto space anyway.
Senators on Tuesday mostly voted against advancing the legislation, with 49 votes in favor and 50 against. The tally left the bill short of a majority, dealing a setback to the digital asset industry, which has long called for the rules. The bill aims to formally divide oversight between regulators, distinguishing which digital assets are securities, commodities, or stablecoins — classifications that would determine which regulator oversees each type of token.
President Donald Trump last month urged lawmakers to pass the legislation, helping spur a bitcoin rally. Republicans, however, had warned for months that Democrats were deliberately holding it back.
Crypto industry executives had long called for rules to be in place after regulators during the Biden administration penalized companies in the digital asset space with fines for allegedly selling unregistered securities.
This article first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.
