Bitcoin Plunges 5% After CLARITY Act Fails in Senate, Biggest Drop Since June

Selling swept across the cryptocurrency market after the U.S. Senate failed to advance the CLARITY Act, sending Bitcoin down more than 5% and Ether lower by more than 8%.

Bloomberg reported that Bitcoin extended its losses immediately after the CLARITY Act failed to clear a procedural vote in the Senate on September 15, falling as much as 5.3% intraday to $74,910. It later trimmed some of the decline and was trading around $75,400 on Binance's USDT market. Ether also fell more than 8% during the session. Both tokens posted their biggest intraday declines since June.

The bill received 49 votes in favor and 50 against, leaving it short of the 60 votes needed to clear the procedural hurdle. Democrats raised concerns including what they viewed as inadequate ethics provisions tied to U.S. President Donald Trump's business interests in the crypto industry.

Investor sentiment deteriorated quickly as the industry lost the regulatory clarity it had been counting on, with markets already on edge over rising interest rates. Ayesha Kiani, chief operating officer at Monark Asset Management, said the bill's failure to advance would prolong the regulatory vacuum. That could affect corporate activity in the U.S., capital allocation and the pace at which institutional investors enter the market.

Crypto-linked stocks also fell sharply. Coinbase dropped 10%, Circle Internet Group slid 11%, and Strategy, the world's largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, fell 5%.

In derivatives markets, liquidations of leveraged positions surged. CoinGlass data showed that about $300 million of bullish crypto bets were liquidated in the final hour before the vote, accelerating the price decline.

Jasper De Maere, an OTC trader at Wintermute, said discussion of a market structure bill in 2026 is effectively over. The next realistic opportunity will come after a new Congress is seated.