Bitcoin’s price tumbled — along with crypto-related stocks — following the blockage of the long-awaited Clarity Act.
The price of the leading cryptocurrency recently stood at $75,939, down 4% over the past day, after dropping as low as $75,038 at one point on Tuesday.
Lawmakers blocked the landmark digital asset market structure bill in a procedural vote Tuesday. Major companies in the digital asset space have long called for clear rules to be put in place to regulate the industry.
Bitcoin wasn’t the only asset that dropped: BTC-related stocks such as Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) and Strategy (MSTR) were also down.
America’s biggest crypto exchange’s stock dropped by more than 10%; Strategy, the largest corporate holder of bitcoin slid by over 5%.
Major publicly traded bitcoin miners also dropped in price, with MARA, CleanSpark, and Core Scientific all slipping by 5% or more over the past day.
Senators mostly voted against advancing the legislation — 49 for and 50 against — that the digital asset industry has long called for.
The bill aims to formally divide oversight between regulators, distinguishing which digital assets are securities, commodities or stablecoins.
President Donald Trump last month urged lawmakers to pass it, helping spur a bitcoin rally. But Republicans warned for months that Democrats were deliberately holding it back.
And hold it back they did: anti-crypto senator Elizabeth Warren warned congress against voting for the bill on Tuesday, slamming the bill as “a massive risk to families.”
While Senator Bernie Sanders wrote on X that the bill was “corrupt.”
Lawmakers had a problem with the bill because they said it unfairly allowed Trump to make money from the crypto industry. The president’s family has cashed in with numerous crypto ventures since Trump took office but the White House has always denied any wrongdoing.
“Crypto billionaires have spent nearly $300M on the midterm elections,” added Sanders.
“Meanwhile, Trump and his family have pocketed more than $1.4B from crypto deals.”
Pro-crypto senator Cynthia Lummis slammed Democrats for blocking the bill.
Writing on X, the Republican said: “The once-proud Democratic party is anti-consumer and pro-illicit finance, anti-ethics, anti-free enterprise, anti-worker, anti-livable wage jobs, and pro-socialism. The Democrats are now anti-American.”