By Jonathan Jachym, Global Head of Policy and Market Structure
The policy objective behind these frameworks is simple: to protect consumers, foster innovation and provide clear rules of conduct. Despite more than five years of legislative efforts, the United States is not yet part of it. But Congress has a narrow window to pass a market structure bill in the coming months.
To be clear, the United States is not without regulations. It is regulated fifty times. Companies operating nationally navigate state remittance regimes, FinCEN registration, and overlapping federal claims with multiple agencies.
What’s missing is a federal floor, a unified market structure framework that defines digital asset categories, resolves jurisdiction between the SEC and CFTC, and establishes consistent standards for intermediaries. Every jurisdiction that has established this floor has unlocked the same thing: consumer protection, investment, jobs and institutional engagement that only follow when the rules are clear.
This is what the Digital Assets Market Clarity Act provides. The House passed it last July with significant bipartisan support. Market structure legislation did not happen overnight.
From DCCPA to RFIA to FIT21, Congress has spent years and countless hours in both chambers and multiple committees to establish a comprehensive framework. The current bill reflects this accumulated work.
We operate worldwide today under hundreds of licenses and registrations, with more coming online soon. We explored the regulatory frameworks in Europe, Asia Pacific, the Middle East and Latin America.
The pattern is consistent: when jurisdictions provide clarity, investment, hiring and construction follow. The United States is falling behind and the gap is now quantifiable. Today, more than 70 countries have established specific registration or licensing regimes for crypto intermediaries.
The question is no longer whether regulatory clarity works; it is a question of whether the United States will act on its own evidence. Since the launch of GENIUS ten months ago, the stablecoin market has grown by approximately 24%, now reaching a record market capitalization of $321 billion according to CoinDesk Research.
Market structure legislation would extend this effect of stablecoins to the rest of the digital asset market: spot trading, custody, and the institutional infrastructure built on top of them. It would also do the work that fifty separate state regimes cannot do alone: protect retail customers with uniform standards of disclosure and conduct, and give institutions the legal certainty needed to deploy capital at scale.
The path to passing market structure legislation this year is narrow but real. Serious progress has been made in both committees and the White House has been explicit about the urgency. But the legislative calendar is unforgiving; each week of delay compresses the runway for marking, rapprochement and passage on the ground.
The argument for the United States to act now is not that the rules will be ideal. The opportunity cost of further delay is no longer hypothetical. It is measured, in real time, in terms of capital formation, business investment and institutional activities and gaps in consumer protection.
The window is open. It is time to move market structure legislation out of the Senate on a bipartisan basis. Send it back to the House. Put it on the president’s desk for signature. And provide builders, innovators and the market as a whole with the clarity needed to invest and grow in the United States.
