XRP Drops 10% as Clarity Act Setback Weighs on Crypto Market

The crypto market came under broad selling pressure after the Senate’s 49-50 procedural vote left the Clarity Act 11 votes short of the 60 needed to advance, sending major digital assets lower.

XRP suffered the steepest decline among the largest cryptocurrencies, falling nearly 10% to $1.30 during Asian morning trading on Wednesday, according to CoinDesk data. The drop came after senators failed to move the crypto market structure legislation forward.

Ether followed with a loss of nearly 5%, trading around $2,410. Solana also declined about 5% to slightly above $97, while dogecoin fell close to 5%. Zcash and Hyperliquid’s HYPE each lost roughly 4%.

Bitcoin dropped nearly 3% to just above $76,000. BNB and Tron recorded comparatively smaller declines of about 1% each.

Senate Vote Falls Short

The Clarity Act failed on a 49-50 cloture vote. The procedural motion required at least 60 senators to succeed and allow the legislation to proceed to debate. Several Republican senators joined Democrats in voting against the measure.

The bill’s negotiators had spent months working through more than 600 pages of compromise language. One of the major unresolved issues involved ethics provisions designed to prevent senior government officials from maintaining financial interests in crypto businesses.

Michigan Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin said she voted against the legislation because she considered its ethics requirements insufficient. She specifically cited President Donald Trump, his children and members of his Cabinet and their involvement in crypto-related businesses.

Slotkin also raised concerns about the ability of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to enforce the proposed framework, arguing that the agency does not have enough staff. She further said the legislation did not adequately address money laundering and terrorist financing.

Crypto Stocks Suffer Larger Declines

Crypto-related equities recorded even steeper losses than digital assets.

Coinbase fell nearly 9% to $174.42, while Circle declined more than 9% to $88.26. Galaxy Digital dropped 8% and Gemini fell 7%.

Bullish and Riot Platforms each declined 5%, while eToro lost 4%. Robinhood, MARA Holdings, CleanSpark, IREN and Core Scientific all fell between 3% and 4%.

Focus Shifts to Regulators

With Congress unable to advance the legislation, attention is shifting toward the agencies that the Clarity Act was designed to establish clearer rules for.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is already developing its proposed Reg Crypto framework as well as rules covering tokenized securities. Those regulatory efforts now represent the main avenue for the type of framework the industry had sought through legislation.

Crypto-focused political action committees, including Fairshake, also face decisions over how to respond to senators who opposed the bill ahead of the Nov. 3 election. A new Congress is scheduled to begin in January 2027.

Fed Decision Adds to Market Pressure

The Federal Reserve is scheduled to announce its latest interest-rate decision later Wednesday. Traders are leaning toward a quarter-point rate increase.

The decision comes as crypto assets are already under pressure following the Senate’s failure to advance the market structure bill, adding another major event for investors watching risk assets.

Read More: Inside the last-minute political breakdown that doomed the Clarity Act vote

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