Cuomo Pushes Congress on CLARITY Act Before August Recess

Andrew Cuomo, the former New York governor and co-chair of the ICE-OKX joint venture, is pressing Congress to pass the CLARITY Act before lawmakers leave for the August 7 recess. The industry is not asking for special treatment, Cuomo said on Bloomberg Crypto. It wants clear rules.

“What the companies are saying is tell me the rules. Tell me the regulations. I need a referee. Just tell me where the lines are on the field and what I can do and what I can’t do,” Cuomo said.

Years of regulatory uncertainty have made it difficult for crypto businesses to operate in the U.S., he argued. Cuomo warned against turning the issue into a partisan fight.

“You don’t want to make this partisan. You don’t want to blame Democrats. You don’t want to blame Republicans because that is the problem. Pointing fingers doesn’t work,” he added.

Democrats have legitimate concerns about consumer protection, anti-money laundering (AML) rules, and know-your-customer (KYC) requirements, Cuomo acknowledged. Those safeguards should remain part of any final legislation, he said.

“Democrats have concerns. They want consumer protections. They should have them. They want to make sure that AML, KYC is all in place. That should be in place,” Cuomo said.

The White House earlier set a July 4 target for progress on the bill. That deadline slipped. Now the August 7 recess creates a new pressure point. If Congress fails to act before leaving, the bill could be pushed into the fall.

Cuomo argued that governments have historically taken years to regulate new financial innovations, including electronic trading and credit default swaps. Crypto has been waiting far longer than it should, he said.

“Government has often lagged behind changes in the market… But this is an extraordinarily long period of time,” Cuomo said.

Bitcoin began gaining traction around 2009. The U.S. still lacks a comprehensive federal framework for crypto, he noted. The CLARITY Act is “aptly named,” Cuomo said, because it would provide the legal certainty the industry has sought.

For ICE, the exchange operator behind the joint venture, the outcome carries weight. AlphaScala’s proprietary Alpha Score for ICE sits at 41 out of 100, tagged Mixed, reflecting the regulatory overhang. The House and Senate are scheduled to leave for recess on August 7. No floor vote has been scheduled for the CLARITY Act.