CLARITY Act Negotiations Stall on Ethics Rules
The CLARITY Act, a comprehensive U.S. crypto market structure bill in Congress, is advancing toward a vote despite mounting obstacles. Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon announced support for the legislation, stating he backs the bill even as he acknowledged it is "not perfect." Solomon's endorsement breaks with other major financial institutions and banks that have expressed hesitation over the bill's stablecoin provisions.
The primary impediment to passage is not substantive crypto policy but procedural: disputes over ethics rules and enforcement authority. Both parties have stated they want U.S. crypto market structure legislation to pass, but disagreement over who enforces ethics standards has become the bill's largest obstacle. The stablecoin yield provisions have also drawn criticism from the broader financial industry, despite Goldman's support for the overall framework.
SEC Resolves Gensler Documents Dispute with Coinbase
The SEC has agreed to settle a two-year legal dispute with Coinbase over missing records and communications from former SEC Chair Gary Gensler. According to a new court status report, the agency will pay a flat fee to resolve the litigation regarding what Gensler knew about Ethereum. The settlement concludes a contentious period in which Coinbase sought disclosure of agency communications related to the regulator's Ethereum enforcement posture.
The resolution marks an end to prolonged discovery disputes between the exchange and the SEC, though the underlying questions about regulatory communication and transparency in agency decision-making remain part of broader congressional and industry scrutiny of the SEC's crypto oversight approach.
International Regulation Expands; Privacy Concerns Raised
Regulatory frameworks for crypto are expanding globally. Swiss cantonal bank BancaStato launched regulated crypto trading and custody services in partnership with Sygnum, integrating Bitcoin and other digital assets into its digital banking applications. The move reflects growing institutional acceptance of crypto services within traditional banking infrastructure in jurisdictions with established regulatory clarity.
In the U.S., lawmakers are advancing the KIDS Act, which critics argue creates a mass surveillance and censorship regime rather than age-verification safeguards. The Electronic Frontier Foundation and privacy advocates have warned that the bill's provisions could establish unprecedented monitoring systems affecting free expression. Meanwhile, the White House has accused Chinese AI firms of covert industrial-scale technology distillation, signaling that technology transfer and national security concerns intersect with crypto and AI policy development.