U.S. Senate Banking Committee clarifies 7 misconceptions about the CLARITY Act: No deviation from securities law, emphasizing investor protection and regulatory boundaries

Odaily Planet Daily reports that the U.S. Senate Banking Committee published an article interpreting and clarifying the seven major misconceptions about the CLARITY Act, mainly including:

1. It does not deviate from existing securities laws but is based on mature securities law principles to clearly define which digital assets are securities and which are commodities.

2. The bill is essentially an investor protection law that aims to prevent recurrence of FTX-style risk events by establishing clear rules to combat fraud, manipulation, and abuse.

3. It fills regulatory gaps by clearly delineating the supervisory powers of the SEC and CFTC, establishing a joint advisory committee to coordinate rules, and introducing targeted anti-avoidance provisions to reduce arbitrage opportunities.

4. It requires key intermediary institutions to fulfill anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing obligations, and strengthens sanctions compliance and the Department of Treasury’s enforcement authority.

5. It does not allow DeFi to become an illegal money channel, emphasizing “precise crackdown on illegal activities,” requiring centralized intermediaries interacting with DeFi protocols to implement risk management standards, and establishing specific rules for intermediaries that are not truly decentralized to protect the code and innovation itself.

6. It clearly protects software developers’ and users’ self-custody rights, does not consider developers who do not control user funds and only publish or maintain code as financial intermediaries, while retaining regulatory agencies’ ability to intervene against genuine risks.

7. The core goal is to strengthen national security, protect investors, and promote compliant innovation under clear rules, rather than tailoring regulations for specific industries.