WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate rejected cloture on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act on Sept. 15, voting 49-50 against advancing H.R. 3633. The defeat leaves federal crypto market structure efforts stalled with no durable statutory framework in place.
XRP dropped 9.4 percent immediately after the vote to $1.28—nearly eight times Bitcoin's intraday move—signaling market disappointment over the failed legislative push.
Ripple released a post-vote statement distinguishing the legislative setback from XRP's existing legal position. "The outcome of today's vote on the Clarity Act does not change the established legal clarity for XRP," the company said. Ripple cited its 2023 court victory, which determined XRP is not a security, and a March 2026 joint interpretation from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission that named XRP a digital commodity.
The Clarity Act had incorporated 126 negotiated changes but could not secure the votes needed for advancement. Without the bill, the broader U.S. digital asset market remains without a statutory framework.
Ripple said commercial demand for its offerings remains strong across traditional finance and the digital asset ecosystem, specifically in payments, stablecoins and institutional markets. CEO Brad Garlinghouse has previously highlighted XRP's role in institutional payment infrastructure, a sector involving $16 trillion in annual activity, where digital assets currently account for close to zero percent of flows.
