Benchmark: Delay to U.S. crypto market-structure bill — Jefferies sees CLARITY Act as tokenization inflection point; swipe-fee amendment, markup pushed to Feb. 3

first published 2026-01-26T14:30:12Z

Benchmark analyst Mark Palmer warns that failure to pass U.S. market-structure legislation this year would prolong regulatory ambiguity and a persistent risk premium, capping valuation expansion for U.S.-exposed crypto platforms. He says such a delay would favor Bitcoin, bitcoin-focused treasuries, miners and infrastructure, while leaving exchanges, DeFi, smart-contract platforms and stablecoin monetization constrained by listing uncertainty, higher compliance costs and unresolved rules around yield and distribution. Palmer still judges passage of a diluted bill as more likely than not and notes markets are already pricing in timing risk as Senate negotiations lag.

AI Analysis

Summary states a legislative delay would prolong structural regulatory ambiguity and a persistent risk premium that caps valuation expansion for U.S.-exposed platforms; it explicitly says the delay would favor bitcoin, bitcoin-focused treasuries, miners and infrastructure and constrain exchanges, DeFi, smart-contract platforms and stablecoin monetization; it also notes markets are already pricing timing risk as negotiations lag.

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