Democrats Take Congress as Crypto Weighs the Future of the CLARITY Act

The US midterm elections dominated the day. Democrats have won control of both the House and the Senate, reaching 51 Senate seats after a win in Iowa, which reshapes the outlook for the crypto industry's CLARITY Act. In Ohio, a race shaped by $63m of crypto-linked funding ended with Sherrod Brown, a long-time critic of the industry, returning to the Senate. Beyond Washington, ballot results in local communities and activity on prediction markets showed how far the vote reached into technology and finance.

Markets at a glance

Digital asset prices firmed over the past 24 hours, though most major tokens remain lower on the week. Bitcoin traded at $77,782 this morning, up 1.6% on the day but down 4.5% over seven days.

Ether rose 2.2% to $2,294, trimming its weekly decline to 3.4%. XRP also gained 2.2% to $1.28 and is down 4.8% on the week. BNB was the weakest of the large tokens over seven days, down 7.0%, despite a 0.6% daily rise to $698.29.

The main stablecoins, Tether and USDC, held at $1. The Crypto Fear & Greed Index stands at 50, a neutral reading.

The stories that mattered

Democrats win control of House and Senate, reshaping outlook for crypto's CLARITY Act. Democrats secured 51 Senate seats after an Iowa win, giving them both chambers of Congress. The result changes the political arithmetic for the CLARITY Act, the market structure legislation the industry has been pressing for. The Ohio contest was especially notable: despite $63m of crypto-funded spending in the race, Sherrod Brown, a long-standing industry critic, is returning to the Senate.

Polymarket trader sits on $917,000 profit from midterm bets, with Alaska still undecided. One trader on the prediction market has accumulated $917,000 in profit on midterm wagers. Most of that gain rests on a bet that Republicans win no Senate swing states, which remains unsettled while Alaska is undecided. Traders still assign a 14% chance to that wager going wrong, leaving a large share of the profit exposed to a single outcome.

Voters in at least 29 US communities back limits on AI data centre development. Ballot results from Ohio to Wisconsin show local resistance to the buildout of AI infrastructure hardening, with voters in at least 29 communities supporting restrictions. Industry figures have warned that broad moratoriums could damage the economy. The results suggest that siting and approval of large data centres may become a more contested local issue.

Taken together, the three stories point to an election whose consequences extend well beyond the composition of Congress, touching digital asset regulation, the growing role of prediction markets in tracking political outcomes, and the physical footprint of the technology sector.

What to watch

• How Democratic control of both chambers affects the timetable and content of the CLARITY Act, and how the industry adjusts its strategy after the Ohio result.
• The outcome in Alaska, which will settle the outstanding Senate swing-state wager behind most of the Polymarket trader's $917,000 profit.
• Whether local limits on AI data centres spread beyond the 29 communities that voted on them, and how industry responds to warnings about broad moratoriums.
• Whether the modest daily gains in bitcoin and ether extend, with the Fear & Greed Index sitting at a neutral 50 and weekly performance still negative.