BitGo CEO Mike Belshe says the Clarity Act’s 50-49 Senate failure, 10 votes short of 60, left U.S. markets exposed to firms combining trading, brokerage and custody.
Key Points:
- Mike Belshe says combining exchange, brokerage and custody functions can create a single point of failure for digital-asset markets.
- The Senate voted 50-49 on Sept. 15 to advance the Clarity Act, leaving it 10 votes short of the 60 required.
- Belshe identified custody failures and counterparty credit exposure as the two main risks of the one-stop-shop model.
BitGo Clarity Risk
During an interview at Korea Blockchain Week 2026, Belshe said BitGo backed the Clarity Act because the bill would have created a clearer federal market structure for digital assets. He argued that the current framework allows more financial functions to accumulate inside the same firms.
The Senate’s Sept. 15 procedural vote failed 50-49, with four Republicans joining Democrats in opposition, according to Reuters, and the bill remained 10 votes short of the 60 needed to advance.
Belshe pointed to Coinbase, which The Block said recently added a derivatives clearing organization license to its futures commission merchant license and exchange business. He said the expansion illustrates how crypto firms are moving toward broader one-stop financial platforms.
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Mike Belshe Warning
Belshe separated the risk into two areas: custody and counterparty credit. With bearer assets, he said, losing control of a private key can mean losing the asset itself, and a failure at a central market hub could spread beyond one company.
He compared that concentration with Lehman Brothers, which failed in 2008, but described a hypothetical in which a major exchange also controlled brokerage and custody.
Belshe said a custody failure at such a hub could mean “the entire market goes down.” His comparison was an assessment of structural risk, not a forecast of an imminent collapse.
Belshe said BitGo can continue operating without the legislation after 13 years in crypto, while traditional financial firms may move more cautiously because they fear a return of Operation Chokepoint 2.0.
On a separate issue, Belshe also responded to Maelstrom CIO Arthur Hayes’ view that stablecoins are not a natural currency for AI agents because they do not directly convert into computing power. Belshe said agent-to-agent payment systems could emerge while still connecting to dollar-based or other human financial systems.
The Clarity Act has been stalled since the Sept. 15 vote, which came before Congress prepared to leave Washington ahead of the November midterm elections. Reuters reported that the SEC and CFTC are now positioned to carry more of the regulatory burden unless Congress revives legislation.
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