U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins said he has directed agency staff to prepare a proposal that would let investment advisers directly custody crypto assets held for clients and regulated funds under certain conditions. He also said the SEC is considering whether state trust companies could serve as custodians. Atkins said some crypto assets do not currently have qualified third-party custodians available, framing the proposal as part of a broader regulatory effort rather than a standalone change. The custody proposal sits within the SEC’s wider crypto regulatory framework, and a revised crypto asset custody rule had already entered White House review in August. He said the framework also includes two other items: the Crypto Asset Regulation introduced on Aug. 18 and a transfer agent modernization plan, covering crypto asset issuance and transfers, respectively. Atkins also urged Congress to move forward with the CLARITY Act. That bill, however, failed to advance in a procedural Senate vote on Sept. 15, receiving 49 votes in favor and 50 against, according to Bitcoin.com News.

The U.S. Senate failed to move the CLARITY Act forward after a cloture vote on Sept. 15 ended 49-50, leaving the digital asset market structure bill 11 votes short of the 60 needed to proceed. The result marked the first direct setback for the measure on the Senate floor after it passed the House 294-134 in July 2025 and cleared the Senate Banking Committee 15-9 in May 2026. Ahead of the vote, Senator Elizabeth Warren attacked the bill on conflict-of-interest grounds, saying the Trump family made $1.4 billion from crypto businesses in 2025 and arguing that revised ethics provisions still left room for exemptions and continued expansion of Trump-linked holdings, including World Liberty Financial. She framed the fight not as a technical regulatory dispute but as a question of private gain and public power. Senator Cynthia Lummis, the bill’s lead Senate backer, said the legislation had expanded from 300 pages to 635 pages after incorporating 126 Democratic amendments. She argued that the proposal reflected a good-faith bipartisan effort and pointed to support from 78 House Democrats. Senator Thom Tillis switched from yes to no during the vote, a procedural move that preserved the option to file a motion to reconsider. While that keeps a narrow path open, the calendar before the election recess is now tight.

The U.S. Senate failed to advance the CLARITY Act, leaving the proposed crypto market structure bill stalled for now. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said that while bipartisan talks may continue, the industry can no longer rely on Congress alone to move the regulatory process forward. He said the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission already have the tools, under their existing authority, to establish clearer rules and are expected to begin formally setting regulatory standards for the crypto sector. Armstrong also said the GENIUS stablecoin bill has already become more flexible on incentives, and that some concessions made during CLARITY negotiations may no longer need to be maintained. He added that as regulation becomes clearer, crypto technology will keep driving updates to the financial system.

Bitcoin analyst Willy Woo said selling from U.S. investors picked up after the CLARITY Act failed to clear a procedural vote in the Senate, pointing to exchange cumulative volume delta data as evidence. According to Woo, Coinbase’s CVD accelerated lower to about negative 6,659 BTC, while Binance’s CVD recovered from its lows to around negative 5,841 BTC. He said that pattern suggests offshore markets, which he described as more dominant, were still absorbing supply. At the same time, Bitcoin pulled back from a high of $80,560 and briefly fell to $74,968. Woo also cited CVD readings from other venues, with Bybit at roughly negative 582 BTC, OKX at negative 1,135 BTC, and Bitstamp at negative 764 BTC. He characterized the divergence between Coinbase and Binance flows as bullish.

Market maker Wintermute started taking profit on its short positions after the CLARITY Act failed to advance earlier today, according to on-chain tracker OnchainLens. The firm’s total short exposure fell from $102.1 million to $55.54 million. At the same time, unrealized PnL increased from $928,000 to $2.28 million. OnchainLens also said Wintermute reduced its ETH short from 15,330 ETH, worth about $38.47 million, to 7,810 ETH, worth about $18.72 million. The tracker reported cumulative profit of $179.89 million. The update ties the position changes to the stalled progress of the CLARITY Act and frames the move as profit-taking by the market maker.

U.S. Republican Senator Thom Tillis said his decision to switch his cloture vote on the CLARITY Act from yes to no does not mark the end of the bill. In a post on X, Tillis said there has been meaningful bipartisan progress around the legislation and that the White House has played an important role in the process. He added that the procedural motion gives lawmakers room to keep working toward what he described as a positive outcome. Earlier the same day, during a vote held in the early morning hours, Tillis changed his vote from support to opposition. His statement framed the move as a procedural step rather than a reversal of the broader effort tied to the bill.

Meme tokens active on several chains posted broad losses on Sept. 16 after the CLARITY Act failed to clear a key procedural vote, according to GMGN data cited by BlockBeats. On Robinhood-linked on-chain markets, STANDARD fell from a market cap peak of $47 million yesterday to $25 million, almost halving. Other names on the same chain also moved lower, including MEME, down 32% over 24 hours to a $30 million market cap, and FLYBRAIN, down 44.7% to $3 million. CME dropped 26% to $3.3 million, while PONS fell 2% to $630 million. MOO declined 10.2% to $16 million, BONER lost 20.2% to $37 million, microduck fell 30% to $5.3 million, CASHCAT dropped 5.2% to $158 million, and AI slipped 3% to $288 million. On BSC, BREW was down 11% to $15 million, 4Stock fell 42% to $7.4 million, and BNC4 lost 7.1% to $6 million. On Solana, EMBER dropped 37% to $11.5 million, RAYCAT fell 33% to $4.75 million, BATON lost 60% to $4.5 million, STONK declined 20.1% to $142 million, and ZCAT was down 25% to $83 million. BlockBeats warned that token prices remain highly volatile.

Coinbase Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad said the failed procedural vote on the CLARITY Act delivered a clear message from Congress: the legislative path is no longer viable for crypto policy, and people should stop expecting it to succeed. In his view, the answer now lies with existing regulatory authority rather than waiting for a new law to move forward on Capitol Hill. Shirzad said the two main U.S. market regulators, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, already have enough authority to put clear rules in place. He also tied the issue to electoral politics, noting that the U.S. midterm elections are about seven weeks away. According to his remarks, crypto voters should respond at the ballot box to lawmakers who voted against the measure. The comments were reported by ChainCatcher in a short policy and regulation news update.