CLARITY Act Failure Leaves Crypto Firms with Unchanged AML Obligations

Due to the US Senate’s recent failure to approve the proposed CLARITY Act, cryptocurrency companies will have to continue adhering to their existing anti-money laundering (AML) requirements mandated by the Bank Secrecy Act, FinCEN regulations, and OFAC sanctions programs. As a result of the 49-50 Senate vote on September 15, 2026, crypto firms must continue upholding their customer identification, risk-based due diligence, sanctions screening, transaction monitoring, and suspicious activity reporting procedures.

Although the failed draft would have mandated a more transparent federal markets framework, provided a clear designating framework for digital-asset exchanges, and defined crypto dealers and brokers as financial institutions, its defeat has little impact on the current state of crypto AML compliance. With the delimitation of the jurisdictional reach of the SEC and CFTC over crypto assets still unclear and possibly expanded by new rules from either agency, crypto firms should continue the status quo of their AML compliance programs.

The passage of the CLARITY Act would have relieved crypto-asset dealers and exchanges of some of their AML obligations, but its failure means that businesses must continue upholding their existing procedures. Though the Senate vote did not usher in immediate deregulation, firms dealing in digital assets should continue being diligent in their AML compliance to avoid unnecessary legal and regulatory scrutiny. Having delimited the jurisdictional reach of the SEC and CFTC over crypto assets, lawmakers may soon move to expand the remit of either or both agencies over crypto assets. As a result, businesses ought to remain diligent in their AML compliance procedures.