Key facts
- Saxo Bank strategist Ruben Dalfovo stated Coinbase is most exposed to the CLARITY Act's market-structure rules.
- The CLARITY Act failed a procedural vote in the US Senate with a 49-50 outcome.
- Coinbase, Circle, and MicroStrategy shares fell between 5% and 10% after the vote.
- The bill's path forward is significantly narrowed due to the procedural vote and limited legislative calendar.
Coinbase faces greater fallout from the US Senate's failure to advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity, or CLARITY, Act, according to a strategist at Saxo Bank. Ruben Dalfovo, a strategist at the Danish bank, said in a Wednesday note that Coinbase is the most directly exposed to the bill's potential market-structure rules, which could determine registration requirements, tradable assets, and market participation in the US.
While shares of crypto-linked companies, including Coinbase, stablecoin issuer Circle, and Bitcoin treasury company MicroStrategy, fell between 5% and 10% following a procedural vote late Tuesday, Dalfovo noted that their exposures differ. Circle's business is more closely tied to the adoption of its USDC stablecoin and interest earned on reserves, while MicroStrategy's performance is primarily driven by its Bitcoin holdings and financing structure.
The selloff continued into Wednesday, with all three companies seeing further declines of 2% to 6%. The CLARITY Act faced a significant setback when it failed a key procedural vote, with senators voting 49-50 against invoking cloture, well short of the 60 votes required. This outcome significantly narrows the bill's path forward, especially with the Senate's limited legislative calendar before the November midterm elections and a target adjournment date of December 18.