Democrats have won control of the US Senate after flipping Republican-held seats in Texas, Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kansas and Iowa, according to the Associated Press.
The majority was secured after Democrat Senator Josh Turek won the Senate race for Iowa, bringing Democrats and independents who caucus with them to 51 seats.
The result reshapes the outlook for the stalled CLARITY Act and determines which lawmakers lead committees overseeing the industry.
Democratic control could also bring more congressional scrutiny of Trump-linked crypto businesses and regulators’ decisions. Control of the Senate could also affect confirmation of future presidential nominees to regulatory posts.
“It’s too early to say exactly what this means for crypto, but one thing is clear: nothing will pass without cross-partisan support,” Jerome de Tychey, president of Ethereum France and co-founder of EthCC, told Cointelegraph.
“The CLARITY Act failed its Senate procedural vote 49 to 50 in September, and if it isn’t passed by January, the next Congress starts again from scratch. So the industry will have to go back to the table and make the case for blockchain again, on substance.”
De Tychey said some Democratic demands could help strengthen the industry’s regulatory framework.
“Conflict-of-interest rules and customer protection obligations are things a mature industry should welcome. In Europe, we already live with them under MiCA,” he said, referring to the European Union’s Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation.
However, he warned against allowing crypto policy to become entrenched along party lines.
“The biggest risk for crypto in America is for it to become entrenched as a partisan issue; that could set the US back several years.”
Fred Hsu, co-founder and CEO of D3, a core contributor to Doma Protocol, similarly said durable regulation would require support from both parties.
“The midterms are a good reminder that the industry can’t rely on one party to deliver them, and should be making its case to lawmakers on both sides now,” Hsu said in comments provided ahead of the election.
Related: 1inch lawyer sees agencies driving US crypto regulation as midterms unfold
