Andrew Cuomo Tells Congress to Pass the CLARITY Act

Former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, now co-chair of a joint venture between crypto exchange OKX and the parent of the New York Stock Exchange, called on Congress this week to pass the CLARITY Act and put the U.S. digital-asset industry under a single federal rulebook. His remarks on Fox Business are the most prominent push yet from someone with direct skin in the private crypto markets the bill would regulate, and they arrive as the bill’s path through the full Senate has measurably cooled.

Cuomo’s interview put a public face on an argument the digital-asset industry has been making in Washington for more than a year. It also sharpened the political question of who exactly is asking Congress to write the rules, and what they stand to gain when those rules are written.

Cuomo’s New Corner Office

Cuomo left the governor’s office in 2021 amid sexual harassment allegations he has denied, lost last year’s New York City mayoral race, and in between began working with OKX in 2023. This year he was named co-chair of a 50-50 joint venture between the crypto exchange and Intercontinental Exchange, the parent of the New York Stock Exchange, according to his new role as co-chair of an OKX-ICE venture.

His new remit is to merge Wall Street’s compliance framework with crypto’s 24/7 trading technology. The venture aims to tokenize mainstream equities and futures, and to give OKX’s roughly 120 million users access to NYSE products. ICE senior vice president of futures exchanges Trabue Bland co-chairs alongside Cuomo.

That position gives Cuomo a stake in the regulatory outcome. A federal rulebook that legitimizes tokenized trading is the foundation of the product his new employer is building. His call for Congress to set firm rules of the road is not a neutral policy preference. It is a request for the rules under which his own venture will operate.

You can’t claim an industry is the Wild West when there’s no sheriff. That’s why it’s the Wild West, because there’s no sheriff and there are no laws.

Cuomo made the case in a Tuesday interview on Fox Business, describing blockchain as a technology whose time has passed without a regulatory framework to match it.

The Interview on Fox Business

Cuomo framed blockchain as a consumer-cost story. He pointed to the fees banks charge, the minimum balances they require, and the delays in cross-border transfers, then described a parallel system built on direct wallet-to-wallet transfers with virtually no transaction fees in the Tuesday interview on Fox Business. He called the technology something that has been percolating for a long time and gestating its way through the tension between crypto firms and traditional finance.

Cuomo argued crypto sits inside a longer American financial history. He called it the latest chapter in America’s financial evolution, comparing its emergence to the 1929 stock market crash that led to the creation of the Securities and Exchange Commission and to the Enron scandal that produced corporate reforms. The SEC, Cuomo said, is going to have to change with the times, but the blockchain will be so much more time efficient and cost efficient. “You don’t need the intermediaries,” he added. “Literally, you could trade directly, and it can be a 24/7 market, and it can be a global market.” For the average consumer, he said, the difference is direct, fast payments with virtually no transaction fees, alongside access for the billions of people globally who have no entry to any financial service.

The Banks Aren’t Buying the Argument

Cuomo’s framing of intermediaries as the friction that blockchain removes is the same framing bank lobbyists are using against the bill. JPMorgan Chase Chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon has argued the legislation fails to meet federal banking standards. Cuomo responded directly in the interview. “Now, I think a lot of the traditional finance guys were saying, ‘Well, hold on, this can dramatically change the industry. We need to understand all the consequences for the existing industry, so let’s take time because this may upend my business.'” His rebuttal: “You’re not putting the blockchain back in the box. It’s out there. It is happening.”

The bank side has organized around the same dispute.

Five of the largest U.S. bank trade associations told the Senate last week that the stablecoin compromise inside CLARITY is a shortfall that opens a loophole for crypto platforms to pay interest-like rewards on tokenized dollars. The same five lobbies argued that loophole would let digital-asset service providers bypass the GENIUS Act’s ban on paying interest or yield on payment stablecoins. Cuomo closed his argument with a line that doubles as a direct rebuttal: “What these companies have to get is either you evolve and thrive, or you remain stagnant and die. That’s the way of the market.”

The Senate Floor Is the Harder Fight

The Senate Banking Committee advanced the bill on May 14, 2026, by a vote of 15-9, sending it to the Senate floor, according to the Senate Banking Committee’s May 14 press release. Two Democrats, Senators Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland and Ruben Gallego of Arizona, broke with their party to support it, per ABA Banking Journal’s account of the markup. Chairman Tim Scott, a South Carolina Republican, called the markup historic.

The bill, formally H.R. 3633, the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025, now sits on the Senate Legislative Calendar.

Polymarket Has Cooled on CLARITY

The same week CLARITY cleared committee, prediction-market traders were losing conviction it would become law. Polymarket’s CLARITY passage market priced the bill’s 2026 enactment at 47%, down from 74% a month earlier.

Galaxy Research head Alex Thorn made Galaxy Research’s cut to its passage forecast, trimming his 2026 estimate to 60% from 75% on June 5. He cited a tightening Senate calendar ahead of the August recess as the reason. The market itself opened on January 11 and has generated roughly $1.4 million in total trading volume.

The cooling reflects three unresolved fights. Crypto firms want the bill on the floor. More than 200 companies and trade groups signed a June 7 letter to Senate leaders urging a vote, including the Blockchain Association, Stand With Crypto, the Crypto Council for Innovation, and the Digital Chamber.

Democrats, including Alsobrooks, want language first on ethics and on developer liability for decentralized finance platforms. Until those fights break, the crossovers Alsobrooks and Gallego provided in committee will not be there for a floor vote.

What the Bank Lobbies Want Changed

A coalition of five bank trade associations rejected the stablecoin compromise inside CLARITY as a shortfall in a joint statement, according to coverage of five U.S. bank lobbies rejecting the CLARITY stablecoin compromise. The lobbies argued the compromise language lets crypto platforms reward membership participation as long as the payout does not resemble bank interest, calling that a significant loophole. They warned that pegging rewards to duration, balance, and tenure would directly incentivize the idle holding the prohibition is meant to deter. The trade groups want the loophole closed before the bill reaches the floor.

The coalition that issued the statement includes:

• American Bankers Association
• Bank Policy Institute
• Consumer Bankers Association
• Financial Services Forum
• Independent Community Bankers of America

Three Hurdles Before a Floor Vote

The first is the stablecoin-rewards clause brokered by Senators Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Alsobrooks. Bank lobbies want the language redrawn.

The second is ethics. Banking Democrats want CLARITY to bar elected officials and their immediate families from profiting on crypto ventures whose regulatory paths they can shape. Critics point to the bill’s failure as written to resolve conflicts of interest tied to President Trump and his family’s cryptocurrency activities. The third is a developer-liability shield drawn from the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act of 2026, sponsored by Senators Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming and Ron Wyden of Oregon, that would protect non-custodial DeFi developers from money-transmitter liability under Section 1960 of the federal criminal code. Law-enforcement groups have signaled concerns about both the ethics and DeFi fights still on the table.

The White House is hosting law-enforcement groups this week to try to break the deadlock. Alsobrooks has withheld her support for a floor vote until negotiators settle the ethics provisions and the remaining disputes. The Senate calendar tightens into the August recess.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the CLARITY Act?

The CLARITY Act, formally H.R. 3633, the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025, is a market-structure bill that would draw the regulatory line between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for digital assets. It cleared the Senate Banking Committee on May 14, 2026, by a 15-9 vote and now sits on the Senate Legislative Calendar awaiting a floor vote.

Who is Andrew Cuomo and why does his push matter?

Andrew Cuomo served as New York’s governor from 2011 to 2021 and lost the 2025 New York City mayoral race. He is now co-chair of a 50-50 joint venture between crypto exchange OKX and Intercontinental Exchange, the parent of the New York Stock Exchange. His push carries weight because he speaks for a private-sector venture whose business model assumes a federal tokenized-trading rulebook is enacted.

What is the current status of the CLARITY Act?

The Senate Banking Committee advanced the bill on May 14, 2026. Two Democrats, Senators Angela Alsobrooks and Ruben Gallego, joined all committee Republicans in support. The bill needs 60 votes in the full Senate and remains parked over three unresolved fights: stablecoin rewards, ethics language on official crypto conflicts, and developer-liability protections for decentralized finance.

What are Polymarket odds saying about CLARITY passing in 2026?

Polymarket priced the bill’s 2026 passage at 47% as of the most recent reading, down from 74% a month earlier. Galaxy Research head Alex Thorn cut his own 2026 passage estimate to 60% from 75% on June 5, citing a tightening Senate calendar ahead of the August recess.

What would CLARITY change for crypto users?

The bill would create a single federal rulebook for trading digital assets, replacing the current patchwork of SEC enforcement actions and CFTC guidance. For users, the practical change is which agency supervises the platforms they use. The bill does not directly set consumer-fee or wallet-reward rules. Those details would come from the SEC, the CFTC, and a one-year post-enactment rulemaking window.