Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, stated that the approval of the CLARITY Act could happen by the end of May 2026. The bill seeks to establish clear criteria to differentiate digital assets between securities and commodities, bringing greater legal certainty to the sector.
At the FII Priority event, Garlinghouse emphasized that the adoption of stablecoins will be inevitable once the regulation comes into effect. Recently, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) classified sixteen digital assets as commodities, a decision that preceded the executive’s statement by nine days.
The CLARITY Act arises after the approval of the GENIUS Act last summer, which boosted companies’ interest in adopting stablecoins. Consequently, CEOs and CFOs of companies listed in the Fortune 2000 started considering these digital currencies for financial operations, expanding the corporate cryptocurrency market.
Garlinghouse also explained that he visited Washington two days before the interview to closely follow discussions on the progress of the bill. According to him, delays in approval were motivated by debates about the rules involving yields tied to stablecoins.
In addition to Ripple, which launched its stablecoin RLUSD, other companies and financial institutions are discussing regulatory models for rewards and yields of these currencies. Ripple positions itself as a payment infrastructure, unlike these proposals aimed at generating yields for end users.
More broadly, the regulation that the CLARITY Act intends to implement could define the directions of the cryptoasset market in the United States. Leaders of the traditional sector, such as Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock, already indicate that the complete tokenization of assets will be a reality by 2030, an expectation similar to that of payments fully based on stablecoins.
Finally, Garlinghouse stressed that significant impacts on the segment tend to be perceived over longer horizons, especially in the next decade, and not just in the short term. Thus, the approval of the CLARITY Act gains importance as a milestone for the consolidation of the American crypto regulatory environment.
Context and recent advances in cryptocurrency legislation in the USA
The current United States administration has been promoting progress in the regulation of cryptoassets, marking a change from the previous government. This new stance facilitates coordinated action between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), demonstrating a joint effort to clarify the regulatory environment.
The CLARITY Act, a bill under discussion, seeks to establish clear definitions for the stablecoin market, such as stablecoins, and other digital tokens. In this way, the legislative text aims to answer the main questions about the nature of these assets and their supervision, which, in turn, directly influences financial operations and sector security.
Moreover, the debate around the CLARITY Act reflected concerns expressed by traditional banks about the yields offered by stablecoins, an issue that gained prominence in Congress. On the other hand, Ripple adopted a neutral position on this point, focusing its efforts on developing digital payment infrastructure, highlighting its stablecoin RLUSD as part of this activity.
According to Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple, the slowness of legislators in the process is already giving way to an imminent consensus, signaling that the bill’s approval could occur by May. This happens because fatigue and the growing urgency to regulate the sector have driven negotiations for the formalization of the CLARITY Act.
Overall, the cryptocurrency market awaits this legislation to provide a more solid environment for the sector’s expansion throughout 2026. With regulatory clarity, it is expected that investors and companies will operate with greater legal certainty, which should encourage new investments and innovations in the country.
