Democrats take the Senate as Turek wins Iowa, leaving crypto's big bill in limbo

Democrats have taken control of the US Senate, the Associated Press reports. The majority tipped their way after Democrat Josh Turek won Iowa's Senate race, pushing Democrats and the independents who caucus with them to 51 seats.

That flips the math on everything crypto policy touches in Washington. The stalled CLARITY Act now faces a new set of gatekeepers, and the lawmakers who chair the committees overseeing the industry are about to change. Democratic control could also mean more congressional scrutiny of Trump-linked crypto businesses and of regulators' decisions, and it shapes how future presidential nominees to regulatory posts get confirmed.

The CLARITY Act already died once this year. It failed its Senate procedural vote 49 to 50 in September, and if it doesn't pass by January, the next Congress starts again from scratch — the industry has to rebuild its case from zero.

Jerome de Tychey, president of Ethereum France and co-founder of EthCC, told Cointelegraph it's too early to map out the fallout — but one thing is settled. Nothing passes without cross-partisan support, he said, meaning the industry goes back to the table to argue blockchain on substance.

De Tychey isn't writing off what Democrats want. Conflict-of-interest rules and customer protection obligations are things a mature industry should welcome, he said, pointing to how Europe already lives with them under MiCA, the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation. His real worry is tribalism: the biggest risk for crypto in America, he warned, is it becoming entrenched as a partisan issue, which could set the US back several years.

Fred Hsu, co-founder and CEO of D3, a core contributor to Doma Protocol, struck the same note. Durable regulation needs both parties behind it, he said in comments provided ahead of the election, and the midterms are a reminder the industry can't lean on one party to deliver — it should be making its case to lawmakers on both sides now.