Randi Abernethy, Bullish's head of clearing and group risk, said the Senate's failure to pass the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (CLARITY Act) will not stop the digital asset market from advancing — but it does sharpen the need for a federal regulatory framework. While senators reviewed the bill, she noted, traditional U.S. financial institutions kept accelerating their move on-chain. JPMorgan Chase has been exploring tokenized ETF holdings through a production pilot with the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC). More than 50 institutions, BlackRock and Goldman Sachs among them, are also building out stock and Treasury tokenization infrastructure. The regulatory debate, in her view, is no longer a 'crypto industry problem'; it is about the infrastructure that the entire financial system will depend on. Abernethy cited the 2008 financial crisis as a warning: risk propagates along shared infrastructure, so institutions that never directly touched a failing asset can still suffer losses. With the stablecoin market now above $100 billion and much of its reserves parked in U.S. Treasuries, a major stablecoin failure could ripple into broad financial market liquidity. Supporters of the CLARITY Act, she said, believe the bill would create a unified framework covering customer asset segregation, conflict-of-interest management, capital requirements and disclosure — core investor protections.
The Senate's rejection of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (CLARITY Act) will not stop the digital asset market from developing. It does, however, make the case for a federal regulatory framework stronger.
That is the assessment of Randi Abernethy, head of clearing and group risk at Bullish. Traditional U.S. financial institutions kept pushing into the on-chain market even while senators were weighing the bill, she noted. JPMorgan Chase has been testing tokenized ETF holdings through a production pilot with the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC). More than 50 institutions, including BlackRock and Goldman Sachs, are contributing to stock and Treasury tokenization infrastructure.
The stakes have widened, Abernethy argued. Regulators are no longer debating a 'crypto industry problem,' but the underlying infrastructure of the whole financial system.
She cited 2008 as a case in point. Financial risk, she said, spreads along shared infrastructure. Institutions that never directly touched the troubled assets could still be hit. The same logic applies to today's stablecoin market, which now exceeds $100 billion. A large portion of those reserves is parked in U.S. Treasuries. If one of the major stablecoins were to fail, the damage could spill into traditional market liquidity.
Supporters of the CLARITY Act, she said, see the legislation as a way to establish a unified regulatory framework: customer asset segregation, conflict-of-interest management, capital requirements and disclosure. Those core investor protections, in her view, are what the market still needs. (CoinDesk)
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