XRP Plunges 10% as Crypto Market Weakens After Clarity Act Failure

XRP fell almost 10% on Wednesday as the failure of the Clarity Act to advance through the U.S. Senate added to selling pressure across the crypto market. Bitcoin also declined, moving back toward $76,000.

XRP was trading near $1.30 during Asian morning hours, making it the biggest decliner among major cryptocurrencies, according to CoinDesk data. The weakness followed a 49-50 Senate vote that prevented the market structure legislation from reaching the next stage.

Ether dropped nearly 5% to around $2,410, while Solana fell about 5% to just above $97. Dogecoin also declined close to 5%. Zcash and Hyperliquid’s HYPE each lost roughly 4%.

Bitcoin slipped nearly 3% to slightly above $76,000. BNB and Tron were down about 1% each.

Clarity Act Misses 60-Vote Threshold

The Senate rejected the procedural cloture motion by a 49-50 vote. At least 60 senators were needed for the legislation to advance to debate, with multiple Republicans joining Democrats in opposing the motion.

The bill represented the result of negotiations spanning more than 600 pages of compromise text. Among the final disputes were ethics provisions intended to restrict senior government officials from retaining crypto-related business interests.

Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., said she voted against the legislation because she believed those safeguards were inadequate. She cited President Donald Trump, his children and members of his Cabinet while raising concerns about their financial involvement in crypto.

Slotkin also questioned whether the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has enough employees to implement the proposed law. She said the bill additionally left unresolved issues involving money laundering and terrorist financing.

Crypto Stocks See Steeper Losses

Shares of major crypto companies fell more sharply than the underlying digital assets.

Coinbase declined nearly 9% to $174.42, while Circle dropped more than 9% to $88.26. Galaxy Digital lost 8% and Gemini fell 7%.

Bullish and Riot Platforms each declined 5%, while eToro dropped 4%. Robinhood, MARA Holdings, CleanSpark, IREN and Core Scientific recorded losses ranging from 3% to 4%.

Attention Turns Back to Regulators

The Senate outcome leaves federal regulators with a larger role in determining how U.S. crypto rules develop.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is working on its proposed Reg Crypto framework and rules covering tokenized securities. These efforts provide a separate regulatory route for addressing some of the issues that lawmakers had sought to settle through the Clarity Act.

Industry political action committees, including Fairshake, must now determine how to respond to senators who opposed the bill ahead of the Nov. 3 election. The next Congress is scheduled to convene in January 2027.

Fed Decision Awaits

The Federal Reserve is also set to announce its latest interest-rate decision later Wednesday. Markets are leaning toward a quarter-point hike.

The policy announcement arrives as digital assets are already retreating following the Senate vote, putting both U.S. monetary policy and the stalled crypto legislation in focus for traders.