Bitwise CIO recently shared a post on X that reflected his bullish outlook, which has been sustained by policies from the new crypto-friendly administration.
Hougan believes that the Trump team’s pro-crypto stance continues to encourage massive institutional inflows. However, he hinged it on the administration being able to fulfill promises like the CLARITY Act without overregulating decentralized finance (DeFi).
Bitwise CIO’s thoughts on progress with the CLARITY Act
Drawn into a conversation about regulation and crypto-politics, Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan explained his thoughts about the current regulatory climate being promoted by the Trump administration.
When the other user in the exchange reasoned that “if they can get the govt reopened this week they have about 4-5 weeks to get CLARITY passed this year,” and asked, “Are you really confident they can get something done if this goes into 2026 during midterm elections?”
Hougan wrote, “No, not confident. But I think the odds are quite good. Crypto has bipartisan support, crypto lobbying war chests are at record levels, and to date, the administration has delivered on crypto promises.”
The exchange comes several hours after David Sacks announced that the “Senate Ag Committee has released a bipartisan draft of market structure legislation.” According to the crypto czar, the move has helped move authorities closer to providing the regulatory clarity needed to “make the U.S. the crypto capital of the world.”
Prior to the short discussion as well, Hougan had, in a note to Bitwise customers, talked about how the recent happenings in crypto are forming the basis for a new major era of capital formation.
On X, he wrote: “Coinbase relaunches ICOs and Uniswap throws the fee switch … we’re entering a major new era of capital formation in crypto.”
He has also predicted that compliant ICOs could soon assume more significant roles in the crypto market from 2026, potentially leading to several billion-dollar ICOs that can stand shoulder-to-shoulder against traditional IPOs.
Crypto regulation has progressed despite the U.S. government shutdown
The ongoing U.S. government shutdown has officially become the longest in known history, but a White House official claims major crypto legislation has been “full steam ahead.”
“From our office, I haven’t noticed hardly any difference,” Patrick Witt, executive director of President Donald Trump’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets, said at Ripple’s Swell conference in New York City.
His statement directly refers to negotiations over the CLARITY Act, a market structure bill that passed the House over the summer but has been unable to move forward in the Senate.
“We’re at it from morning until night every day, and we’re continuing to make a lot of progress during this time,” Witt said. However, even he had to admit that the furlough had “set things back in terms of providing that technical expertise.”
Still, he is choosing to see the silver lining and has also acknowledged the fact that, in some other ways, the shutdown has made negotiations easier.
“A lot of the meetings that senators would be having have kind of fallen off their calendars, and so we’ve been able to engage with them a lot more,” Witt said.
Talk on the timeline shows a majority is expecting the shutdown to be wrapped up within days, after which the CLARITY Act may finally get some motion in the Senate. However, anything could derail negotiations, which may affect proceedings.
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