Key Takeaways:
The CLARITY Act could redirect institutional capital toward a narrow set of blockchain networks, with Grayscale naming Ethereum, Solana, BNB Chain and Canton Network as the primary beneficiaries of the proposed US regulatory framework.
"Expected regulatory changes, including the CLARITY Act that aims to establish rules for classifying and regulating digital assets, will likely push institutional capital first toward chains with strong activity in tokenized assets, stablecoins, DeFi and regulated finance," Grayscale said in a May 28 report.
The CLARITY Act, which has advanced through committee and faces a full Senate vote as soon as June, would create a formal classification system for digital assets under US law. The legislation follows the GENIUS Act, signed into law July 18, 2025, which regulated stablecoins with 100% reserves in US dollars or Treasuries and triggered a 43% decline in Bitcoin as capital shifted toward regulated dollar-pegged tokens.
Stablecoin market cap rose 45% to over $306 billion in the 10 months after the GENIUS Act, according to DefiLlama data, while monthly issuance doubled to more than $13 billion. The CLARITY Act addresses the other side of the regulatory equation: how non-stablecoin digital assets are classified and traded.
Ethereum, the largest smart-contract platform by total value locked at roughly $45 billion on DefiLlama, hosts the majority of tokenized real-world assets and stablecoin supply. Solana has emerged as a competing venue for DeFi and retail token activity, with its total value locked recovering to $6.5 billion. BNB Chain, the third-largest by TVL, benefits from its integration with Binance's exchange ecosystem. Canton Network, a permissioned blockchain designed for institutional finance, targets regulated asset tokenization and settlement.
The SEC has already moved in parallel, proposing an innovation exemption that would let third parties issue tokenized public equities for DeFi trading without issuer approval, extending its March approval of Nasdaq's tokenized securities framework. The agency also conditionally approved Nasdaq PHLX to list cash-settled bitcoin index options under the ticker QBTC.
The GENIUS Act may have permanently impaired Bitcoin's dollar-access use case, which served as its primary demand driver in emerging markets subject to capital controls. Whether the CLARITY Act revives Bitcoin's digital gold thesis depends on whether it begins recoupling with gold within one to two quarters of passage, or continues trading alongside long-duration growth stocks. The correlation regime, not the price level, will be the signal.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
