Crypto is crashing and the BIG question looks something like this:

If crypto is so obviously bullish long-term…

Why does it still feel like institutions keep circling the runway instead of landing?

The truth has little to do with volatility, even less to do with price, and nothing to do with risk tolerance.

The missing piece is structure.

Unlike the guys flipping DeFi tokens from their attic offices, institutions wait for permission. The legal kind.

And right now, crypto still lives in a regulatory gray zone that makes compliance officers break out in hives.

That’s where the CLARITY Act comes in.

And this week, something quietly important happened.

What the CLARITY Act Actually Does (In Plain English)

At its core, the CLARITY Act answers one question the U.S. has spent years dodging: WHO regulates WHAT?

Pre-CLARITY, the SEC and the CFTC share overlapping, ill-defined authority.

That uncertainty creates legal risk. And large institutions don’t deploy real balance sheets into environments where the rules might change after the fact.

CLARITY aims to draw a clean line:

• Digital commodities fall under the CFTC

• Securities stay with the SEC

Why does this matter? Assets like Ethereum could be treated more like commodities than securities.

That single shift reduces enforcement risk, clarifies compliance, and opens the door for banks, funds, and asset managers to participate at scale.

But they don’t move on legal probabilities. They need to know:

• Who the regulator is

• What the rules are

• What’s allowed, and what isn’t

Until those answers exist on paper, capital stays cautious.

What Just Happened in Congress

This week, the CLARITY Act moved forward at the committee level.

Specifically, the Senate Agriculture Committee—which oversees the CFTC—advanced the digital commodities framework.

That’s a meaningful signal.

It suggests lawmakers are increasingly comfortable treating parts of crypto under a commodities-style regulatory structure.

For Ethereum and established ecosystems, that’s noteworthy.

At the same time, the more politically sensitive side of the bill—handled by the Senate Banking Committee—hit a delay.

That section covers stablecoins, broader financial oversight, and the tougher policy debates. So the signal to markets looks like progress on one side, gridlock on the other.

The framework is on the move, it’s just not finished.

One thing we can say…

The Thing to Remember

Institutions aren’t waiting for lower prices.

They’re waiting for rules.

The CLARITY Act moving forward matters. The delays matter too.

Together, they explain exactly why crypto feels overlooked and overcooked at the same time.

When the framework finishes solidifying, participation changes fast.

Until then, this remains a market where patience, structure, and positioning matter more than hype.

At some point, outcomes stop being random.

We’re positioning for that reality.

If you want to stay up on the latest, James and I have been posting about CLARITY Act updates—and a whole lot more—on the Daily Feed.

Click here to check it out (and download for iOS or Android).