The U.S. "Clarity Act" failed to pass a procedural vote in the Senate on September 15, not securing the necessary votes, but bankers and investors do not expect this to slow down cryptocurrency M&A deals. They believe that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) are proactively providing regulatory certainty, such as the SEC's proposed new rules on October 1 to clarify how investment companies should handle client crypto assets. In the first half of 2026, disclosed M&A deals in the digital assets sector reached a record value of $9.7 billion, a 44% year-over-year increase.