Patrick Witt has left the White House crypto council after his Defense Department detail expired, and no replacement has been named. The CLARITY Act he worked on now waits for a lame duck with 22 Senate session days, none set aside for crypto.
Perspective Coverage
8 publishers
- Builder
- Builder 14%
- Operator
- Operator 39%
- Investor
- Investor 47%
Reality
- Evidence72
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+12
- Incentives
- Not scored
- Confidence74
Illinois agreed to delay its 0.2% crypto transaction tax six months, to July 1, 2027, in a joint motion a judge must still approve. The law stays on the books while two lawsuits proceed, so brokers who must collect it get more time to build for a levy that can still arrive in July.
Perspective Coverage
5 publishers
- Builder
- Builder 17%
- Operator
- Operator 51%
- Investor
- Investor 32%
Reality
- Evidence76
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+15
- Incentives68
- Confidence72
SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce, head of the agency's Crypto Task Force, resigns Oct. 2, leaving Paul Atkins and Mark Uyeda as its only two commissioners. Neither her seat nor Caroline Crenshaw's has a nominee, so crypto policy now rests on two Republican votes.
Perspective Coverage
6 publishers
- Builder
- Builder 23%
- Operator
- Operator 45%
- Investor
- Investor 32%
Reality
- Evidence76
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+10
- Incentives60
- Confidence74
Blockchain Association Names Founder Kristin Smith Interim CEO as Mersinger Departs Days After Senate's 49-50 CLARITY Act Vote
Blockchain Association founder Kristin Smith returns as interim CEO on October 17, days after the CLARITY Act failed a 49-50 Senate cloture vote. For investors waiting on a market-structure law, the Senate count matters more to the timetable than the change at the top.
Reality
- Evidence55
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+5
- Incentives40
- Confidence55
Nine days after Clarity stalled, the Fed proposed stablecoin rules under a law Congress already passed
Fed proposals issued Sept. 24 would set stablecoin rules under the already-enacted GENIUS Act, nine days after the Clarity Act stalled in the Senate. Clarity's unresolved jurisdiction questions still lack a statute, and the SEC's crypto task force leader, Hester Peirce, leaves Oct. 2.
Reality
- Evidence40
- Adoption20
- Hype gap+15
- Incentives
- Not scored
- Confidence45
Kristin Smith becomes the Blockchain Association's interim CEO on October 17 and keeps her job as president of the Solana Policy Institute. The industry-wide group will share its chief executive with one chain's lobby while the Clarity Act sits stalled in the Senate.
Perspective Coverage
3 publishers
- Builder
- Builder 13%
- Operator
- Operator 45%
- Investor
- Investor 42%
Reality
- Evidence72
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+15
- Incentives60
- Confidence70
The SEC opened a temporary tokenized-stock pathway two days after the Clarity Act stalled
The CFTC sent a crypto rulemaking to the White House the same day, both agencies working from authority they already hold. A bipartisan group of state attorneys general is arguing the states should keep theirs.
Reality
- Evidence62
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+12
- Incentives78
- Confidence55
Ondo tells the SEC and CFTC that stock perps are already legal
A comment letter argues a perpetual on a single US stock is just a security future without an expiry date, which would make the offshore equity-perp market a filing problem rather than a legislative one. CME says they are swaps.
Reality
- Evidence34
- Adoption38
- Hype gap+38
- Incentives86
- Confidence42
Stablecoin KYC and the Line at the Point of Issuance
The Blockchain Association told five federal agencies that identity checks belong where issuers hold control. The agencies already conceded the alternative could cripple the industry, then asked anyway.
Reality
- Evidence46
- Adoption
- Not scored
- Hype gap+14
- Incentives79
- Confidence49