The Clarity Act Moves Closer to a Senate Vote: Last Thursday, the U.S. Senate Banking Committee voted on the Clarity Act. This followed positive news from a few weeks earlier, when U.S. banks and crypto firms finally reached a compromise on whether stablecoins should be allowed to pay interest or rewards.
The bill is expected to bring clearer regulation to the U.S. crypto industry. Among other things, it could strengthen customer protections, improve operating conditions for crypto businesses, and make it easier for traditional financial institutions to engage more deeply with crypto.
The Clarity Act passed the Senate Banking Committee by 15 votes to 9. The legislation now moves toward a merger with a similar bill that was approved earlier by the Senate Agriculture Committee. It may then be revised before a final version is sent to the full Senate for a vote, followed by a final vote in the U.S. House of Representatives.
It is also notable that two Democratic senators voted to advance the bill in the Senate Banking Committee. That matters because the bill will likely need bipartisan support when it comes before the full Senate. The Democratic senators who voted in favor were Ruben Gallego and Angela Alsobrooks. However, Alsobrooks stressed that several issues still need to be resolved before she can support the Clarity Act in the Senate, including how publicly elected officials may use crypto, including for their own financial benefit.
That means the Clarity Act still faces meaningful obstacles. Even so, clearing the Senate Banking Committee last week was a clear step in the right direction.
Tokenization Is Emerging as 2026’s Defining Crypto Theme: If stablecoins were the crypto word of 2025, after their substantial growth last year, tokenization increasingly appears to be the crypto word of 2026. Tokenization means issuing traditional assets, such as equities, commodities, and debt, on public blockchains. Once these instruments are issued on blockchains such as Ethereum or Solana, they can be traded and used across a broader ecosystem of decentralized applications.
Last week alone, JPMorgan, BlackRock, and Fidelity, three of the largest U.S. financial institutions, announced or launched tokenized funds. JPMorgan will launch the JPMorgan OnChain Liquidity Token Money Market Fund, a fund designed for stablecoin issuers to invest reserves. BlackRock announced plans to launch its second tokenized fund, although further details have not yet been made public. Fidelity publicly launched its first tokenized fund last week, the Fidelity USD Digital Liquidity Fund (FILQ), which invests in various U.S. dollar government securities.
The U.K. Reconsiders Its Stablecoin Rules: Speaking of stablecoins, the Financial Times reported last week that the Bank of England is considering easing its proposed restrictions on how many stablecoins United Kingdom residents may hold. Under the current proposal, individuals would be limited to £20,000, or around €23,075.
The Bank of England may also lower its planned requirement that at least 40% of the assets backing stablecoins be deposited with the central bank. Those deposits would earn no interest and could not be invested in short-term U.K. government bonds. The possible easing comes after crypto firms argued that the proposed rules were too restrictive and could prevent the U.K. from remaining competitive in the digital economy.
Over time, this could become significant given the size of the U.K. economy and the limited current supply of pound-denominated stablecoins.
