News about CLARITY Act

According to the AP, Democrats have won control of the Senate after Josh Turek won the Iowa race, bringing their total, including independents who caucus with them, to 51 seats. The shift could change the path of the stalled CLARITY Act, reshape committee leadership and bring closer scrutiny of Trump-linked crypto businesses and regulators' decisions. The CLARITY Act failed a Senate procedural vote 49 to 50 in September, and if it is not passed by January, the next Congress starts from scratch. Jerome de Tychey, president of Ethereum France, said nothing will pass without cross-partisan support and warned that the biggest risk for US crypto is becoming a partisan issue.

The article notes XRP rose from under $0.50 in 2024 to a $3.65 peak in July 2025 before giving back much of those gains, trading at $1.38 as of Oct. 21. Although Ripple was valued at $50 billion after a $750 million share buyback offer in March 2026, XRP is only a bridge currency in one of Ripple's payment products, and fewer than 10 of the over 300 financial institutions using Ripple are reported to use XRP. Spot XRP ETFs launched in November 2025 with about $1.6 billion in AUM, but XRP's price has declined for much of the past year, and the Clarity Act failed to pass the U.S. Senate. With a market cap of about $87 billion, XRP would need to reach about $8.7 trillion to become a 100-bagger, and the author is skeptical of it as a long-term investment, suggesting Ripple could be more interesting if it goes public. The author takes a cautious approach, noting XRP can move quickly both up and down.

Patrick Witt, executive director of the White House Crypto Council, is leaving his role for a new opportunity in the private sector, according to his Thursday X post. His exit leaves a leadership gap, as he was the last remaining staffer after David Sacks departed in March and deputy director Harry Jung in July. The Senate failed to pass a cloture motion on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act in September, and further progress this session is unlikely. The council's former executive director, Bo Hines, left in August 2025 and later joined stablecoin issuer Tether as a strategic adviser. Cointelegraph has asked the White House whether a replacement is planned and will update when it responds.