The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act failed a U.S. Senate cloture vote on Tuesday, Sep 15, falling short of the 60 votes required to advance. CoinDesk’s final update recorded a 49–50 tally that did not win a simple majority. Reuters described the result as 50–49 in favor and said Sen. Thom Tillis switched from yes to no in a procedural move that preserves reconsideration. Reuters named four Republicans — Jerry Moran, Susan Collins, Josh Hawley and Thom Tillis — among those joining Democrats against the motion.
The failure effectively ends Senate market-structure work for 2026. Congress is set to leave Washington ahead of the November midterms, and a new Congress seats in January. CoinDesk reported ethics provisions on senior officials’ crypto business ties remained an insurmountable rift after months of talks on a bill of more than 600 pages. Sen. Cynthia Lummis’s floor pitch did not flip enough colleagues. Without a statute, attention shifts to SEC and CFTC rulemaking; CoinDesk cited SEC Chair Paul Atkins saying rules and exemptions lack durability without law. The 2025 GENIUS Act stablecoin law remains the prior bipartisan contrast.
Markets priced the outcome the same day. U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs saw $450.33 million in net outflows on Tuesday, according to SoSoValue data reported by CoinDesk — the heaviest single day since June 25. Forced futures liquidations exceeded $570 million over 24 hours, the most since Aug 22, still below the early February and early June washouts. Bitcoin traded near the mid-$76,000 area after the drop; Reuters said BTC fell more than 5% as the vote tracked to fail, the biggest daily percentage decline since June. Coinbase and Circle shares fell as much as 10% (Reuters).
Regulatory-sensitive tokens moved harder than bitcoin. CoinDesk reported Stellar (XLM) down 9.6% and XRP down 8.1% over 24 hours. The CoinDesk 20 Index fell 4.6% on Tuesday, the steepest decline since June 5. Attention next turns to the Federal Reserve rate decision later Wednesday, Sep 16 — a separate event from the Clarity cloture result.
CoinDesk; Reuters; SoSoValue