House Democrats are reportedly preparing to advance crypto legislation after sweeping the U.S. midterms, with plans to expand the Crypto Investor Consumer Bill of Rights into a broader market structure bill, journalist Eleanor Terrett reported.
The Crypto Investor Consumer Bill of Rights is a Clarity Act amendment led by Rep. Maxine Waters. According to sources cited by Terrett, the expanded proposal would give the SEC more power to supervise crypto markets and limit the role of the CFTC.
Election results and crypto candidates
On the surface, the midterm results could be read as a major setback for U.S. crypto policy, given that President Trump's Republican administration is widely regarded as the pro-crypto party while Democrats were seen as more hostile. Experts told Decrypt, however, that the tide may be turning and that crypto policy is evolving into a more bipartisan issue.
Advocacy organization Stand With Crypto endorsed 45 candidates in the midterms, according to its election tracker. At the time of writing, 27 endorsed candidates had won, 12 had lost, and six races were still live. Nearly half of the endorsed candidates were Democrats.
"We're proud to see a majority of our endorsed candidates win their elections," Mason Lynaugh, executive director of Stand With Crypto, said in a statement shared with Decrypt. "To the candidates who won't return to Washington, thank you for going to bat for crypto-owning Americans when it counted."
Wins, losses and the Clarity Act
James Butterfill, head of research at CoinShares, described Republican Bryan Steil as a "meaningful loss" for crypto. The Wisconsin congressman chaired the House digital assets subcommittee and was closely involved in efforts to advance the Clarity Act, which stalled in the Senate earlier this year.
Butterfill also highlighted several winners who have supported crypto policy: Democrats Chris Pappas in New Hampshire and James Talarico in Texas, as well as Wyoming Republican Harriet Hageman. He stressed that the challenge is now "converting" that support into passing legislation.
Carlos Guzman, vice president of research at crypto trading firm GSR, told Decrypt that the Clarity Act's path has become harder. "I wouldn't say it's game over for Clarity, but passing it has become tougher," he said. "Some Democrats support clearer crypto rules, but I wouldn't expect it to be high on their agenda. Any agreement will likely require stronger provisions on things like consumer protection and conflicts of interest."
The Clarity Act seeks to establish rules for crypto markets and has been batted back and forth since 2025. Democrats have pushed back on the bill, citing Trump's crypto conflicts of interest, with Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) pushing for the bill to ban officials and their families from profiting from the sector.
Regulatory oversight and outlook
Guzman noted that the election does not automatically replace the leadership of the SEC or CFTC or stop their rulemaking. "Congressional oversight does change, however, so we might see more scrutiny of regulatory decisions, with Democrats also able to influence agency funding and future appointments," he said.
Butterfill said he believes crypto is becoming less dependent on the Clarity Act as the SEC and CFTC push for regulatory clarity without Congress. He also said AI regulation may draw attention away from crypto, slowing crypto policy in the process.
Following the midterms, Bitcoin has exhibited volatility and was trading at around $76,820, down 4.1% on the day, per Decrypt data.
"The result alone would not make me change my medium-term Bitcoin outlook," Butterfill told Decrypt. "Slower reform could delay some institutional activity, but we would expect the more direct impact to fall on US crypto businesses reliant on new regulatory permissions. We would revisit the outlook if political uncertainty materially weakened investment flows or tightened financial conditions."
