Ripple Shows How XRP Survived CLARITY Act Setback, MicroStrategy Says Bitcoin Never Needed It
Ripple and MicroStrategy told investors nothing legal changed for XRP and Bitcoin (BTC) after the Senate blocked the CLARITY Act on Tuesday. The bill would have written crypto’s US market rules into federal law.
The vote failed 49 to 50. Backers needed 60. Crypto markets reacted, but the impact was quickly contained.
Ripple and MicroStrategy Say the Legal Ground Has Not Moved
Stuart Alderoty, Ripple’s chief legal officer, pointed to two wins that came before the vote.
A 2023 federal court ruling found XRP sales on exchanges were not securities deals. The same judge found Ripple’s sales to institutions did break securities law.
Then in March, two US regulators went further. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) listed XRP among 16 assets called digital commodities.
“Don’t forget – Ripple and XRP stand on settled ground. The 2023 federal Court ruling established XRP is not a security. And in March the SEC and CFTC issued a joint interpretation naming XRP a digital commodity,” Alderoty wrote on X.
Strategy made the same case for Bitcoin. The firm, formerly MicroStrategy, holds 845,050 BTC bought for $63.73 billion. That is $75,412 a coin. Bitcoin traded near $76,206 after the vote. The stack sat roughly 1% above cost.
“Bitcoin has had legal and regulatory clarity in the U.S. for years,” wrote Strategy.
How Fast Democratic Support for the Bill Collapsed
The House passed the same bill 294 to 134 in July 2025. Some 78 Democrats backed it then. Fourteen months later, it died in the Senate.
Representative Tom Emmer, the House majority whip, named Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. He said she praised the industry at a March panel, then voted no.
Upset with Clarity failing? Blame a Senate Democrat. They are bad faith negotiators. In March, I was on stage with @gillibrandny at a @DigitalChamber panel where she “agreed” with me and claimed she wanted “the United States to be at the forefront of this industry.” Senator…
— Tom Emmer (@GOPMajorityWhip) September 15, 2026
Ahead of the vote, 18 state attorneys general had urged Congress to reject the text.
Chainlink said each month without rules pushes builders abroad. Grayscale said the industry continues to make remarkable progress through the ongoing work of regulators like the SEC and CFTC. Both now look to the two regulators to write what Congress would not.
“Our team gave everything we had to get the Clarity Act across the finish line… The politics of the democrats (the anti-crypto army) was elevated over good policy,” Ripple CEO Brad Garlingouse noted.
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