After the U.S. Senate failed to advance the CLARITY Act, Bitcoin’s regulatory status did not immediately change. According to a joint interpretation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in March this year, Bitcoin remains classified as a digital commodity, and a more comprehensive federal regulatory framework for the crypto spot market continues to be delayed.
The Bitcoin category remains unaffected.
Bitplanet Research Lab’s report on September 22 noted that this procedural hurdle delayed the incorporation of the definition of “digital commodities” into federal law and the progress toward establishing a unified regulatory framework for spot markets. On September 15, the Senate rejected the motion to proceed with consideration of H.R. 3633 by a vote of 49 in favor and 50 against.
In March of this year, the SEC and CFTC issued a joint interpretation classifying crypto assets into five categories: digital commodities, digital collectibles, digital instruments, stablecoins, and digital securities. Bitcoin was explicitly categorized as a digital commodity, with Ethereum, Solana, and XRP also included on the list. However, this interpretation does not replace the Howey Test; whether securities laws apply still depends on how the asset is issued and sold.
This means that, following the obstruction of the CLARITY Act, Bitcoin’s existing classification remains in place, but the markets trading it have not gained a new statutory regulatory framework. Under the version passed by the House, digital commodity exchanges, brokers, and dealers would have been required to register with the CFTC, and related spot transactions would have come under its exclusive regulatory authority.
Legislation for the spot market has yet to be fully addressed.
Without the law being enacted, the CFTC still lacks clear statutory authority to comprehensively regulate the entire digital commodities spot market. The report concludes that Bitcoin’s current status as a commodity is primarily based on regulatory interpretations rather than congressional legislation.
This is also a longer-term point of uncertainty. Bitplanet noted that the joint interpretation by the SEC and CFTC is neither statutory law nor a formally binding rule. BlackRock also listed this as a risk factor in its iShares Bitcoin Trust second-quarter report, stating that courts or a future administration could reach different conclusions. Former SEC Chairman Paul Atkins has also stated that legislation is needed to prevent inconsistent regulatory directions going forward.
ETF funds are flowing back in, and prices have reclaimed their losses.
From a market performance perspective, the initial shock caused by the bill's setback has weakened. On September 15, the 12 U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs collectively experienced a net outflow of $450.4 million, with Fidelity’s FBTC seeing a $214.8 million outflow and BlackRock’s IBIT recording a $161.7 million outflow. Bitcoin fell from $78,316 to $75,663 on the same day, while Coinbase and Circle stock prices also declined in tandem.
However, the report notes that this decline cannot be entirely attributed to the bill vote. The same day coincided with the Federal Reserve’s September meeting, and interest rate expectations alongside oil price fluctuations were also influencing risk assets, making it difficult to isolate the impact of regulatory factors.
In the following days, selling pressure reversed. On September 17 and 18, spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded net inflows of $159.5 million and $433 million, respectively. Bitcoin rebounded 5.8% to $80,890 on September 18 and continued rising, briefly surpassing $87,000 on September 22 to reach its highest level since late January.
Regulators or early adopters implement new rules
As congressional legislation stalls, U.S. regulators have begun acting independently. In August, CFTC Chair Michael Selig stated that staff had been directed to review a rule on cryptocurrency market structure that could be advanced under existing statutory authority. The White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs received the CFTC’s related proposal on September 17, but the specific details had not been made public at the time of this report.
The SEC also launched a five-year innovation exemption on September 17 for eligible tokenized equity trading platforms and liquidity providers. According to existing guidelines, qualified platforms may trade tokenized U.S. equities through permissioned automated market makers and liquidity pools, provided they meet conditions regarding shareholder rights, trading restrictions, and smart contract transparency.
The report states that Bitcoin could also serve as a trading pair in such markets. If eligible tokenized stocks are directly traded against non-securities crypto assets such as BTC, they may fall under this exemption. However, this measure does not alter Bitcoin’s classification or grant the CFTC comprehensive regulatory authority over the entire spot market.