The US Senate revealed the final text of the CLARITY Act: protection of staking and legalization of non-custodial wallets

The US Senate Banking Committee has published a consensus version of the historic bill CLARITY Act (Crypto Licensing and Accountability Reform Act), the final vote on which is scheduled for September 15. The document ends the decades-long standoff between the SEC and the CFTC, forming the first full-fledged legal framework for the digital asset industry in the United States. The market received the updated text with optimism: legislators removed the most toxic amendments, directly protecting the basic Web3 infrastructure and the rights of ordinary cryptans.

How does the law protect users of non-custodial-wallets and solo-validators?

The main victory of the crypto community was the legal consolidation of the sovereignty of personal storage. The final text specifically prohibits forcing open source developers and non-custodial interface providers (such as MetaMask, Phantom or Trust Wallet) to complete bank brokerage registration and collect user personal data (KYC). In addition, the bill legislated that solo validators and liquid staking pools are not recognized as financial intermediaries or investment funds, and native network rewards are not considered securities transactions.

What new rules are introduced for centralized-crypto-exchanges?

A two-tier licensing system is being introduced for trading platforms such as Coinbase, Kraken and Gemini. Exchanges gain the right to simultaneously offer CFTC-supervised spot trading of digital commodities and SEC-supervised trading of tokenized securities through a single regulatory window. This eliminates the practice of “regulation by lawsuit” and opens the way for instant official listing of hundreds of altcoins that were previously in a legal gray area due to the risk of regulatory claims.

What to expect for the market before the voting on September 15?

The publication of the final draft lifted the critical overhang of regulatory uncertainty that was holding back the entry of large institutional capital. Experts predict that the successful adoption of the law next week will become a powerful fundamental driver for the autumn rally. This will allow US pension funds and sovereign wealth funds to legally open direct lines of credit and increase on-chain investments in key decentralized protocols.