U.S. Senator: CLARITY Act Will Ensure Customer Crypto Assets Remain Theirs Even If an Exchange Goes Bankrupt
2026-07-20 13:26
Odaily News: U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis has stated that the CLARITY Act will change how customer crypto assets are treated when a digital asset platform enters bankruptcy proceedings, ensuring that customer assets should continue to belong to the customers rather than being included in the company's bankruptcy estate.
The bill requires regulated digital asset intermediaries to treat customer cash and digital assets as customer property, segregated from the company's own assets. It generally also prohibits brokers, dealers, and exchanges from using customer assets for their own benefit or for the benefit of others without authorization.
The bankruptcies of Celsius and Voyager previously sparked disputes over the ownership of customer deposits. In January 2023, U.S. bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn ruled that cryptocurrency deposited into Celsius Earn accounts became company property under the terms of use, affecting approximately 600,000 Earn accounts and roughly $42 billion in assets.
Lummis stated that the CLARITY Act also aims to provide regulatory certainty for developers, enhance investor protection, and improve market integrity. The bill will clarify the respective responsibilities of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in different areas of the crypto market. It has already passed the House of Representatives but has not yet passed the Senate.
The bill requires regulated digital asset intermediaries to treat customer cash and digital assets as customer property, segregated from the company's own assets. It generally also prohibits brokers, dealers, and exchanges from using customer assets for their own benefit or for the benefit of others without authorization.
The bankruptcies of Celsius and Voyager previously sparked disputes over the ownership of customer deposits. In January 2023, U.S. bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn ruled that cryptocurrency deposited into Celsius Earn accounts became company property under the terms of use, affecting approximately 600,000 Earn accounts and roughly $42 billion in assets.
Lummis stated that the CLARITY Act also aims to provide regulatory certainty for developers, enhance investor protection, and improve market integrity. The bill will clarify the respective responsibilities of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in different areas of the crypto market. It has already passed the House of Representatives but has not yet passed the Senate.
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