Grayscale names Ethereum, Solana, BNB Chain, and Canton Network as top blockchain beneficiaries of the CLARITY Act after a 15-9 Senate committee vote. Institutional capital targets tokenization, DeFi, and stablecoins first.
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Grayscale identified Ethereum, Solana, BNB Chain, and Canton Network as the blockchain networks most likely to benefit from clearer U.S. digital-asset rules, including potential passage of the CLARITY Act. The asset manager published a research note on May 22, 2026, titled “The Blockchains that Stand to Benefit from Regulatory Clarity,” linking regulatory progress to institutional demand for tokenization, decentralized finance, and stablecoin infrastructure.
The Senate Banking Committee advanced the CLARITY Act on May 14, 2026, in a 15-9 vote. The bill focuses on token classifications, registration pathways, and how oversight responsibilities would be divided between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Those measures would define how digital assets are issued, traded, and supervised in the United States.
Grayscale Head of Research Zach Pandl framed the outlook around activity already happening on-chain. The report does not treat regulatory clarity as a rising tide that lifts all blockchains equally. Instead, it argues that institutional capital will target networks with existing users, liquidity, and financial applications.
The bill addresses three structural gaps in U.S. crypto regulation:
Each of these changes affects which blockchains can attract regulated issuers, custodians, and institutional investors.
Grayscale placed Ethereum first in its list of beneficiaries. The network leads the tokenized-asset category, supported by deep liquidity, a large developer ecosystem, and established decentralized finance (DeFi) markets.
Ethereum’s advantage is structural. The network hosts the largest pool of tokenized real-world assets (RWAs), including U.S. Treasury tokens, private credit, and real estate. Clearer SEC rules on token classification would reduce legal risk for issuers choosing Ethereum as their settlement layer.
Ethereum’s DeFi ecosystem holds over $50 billion in total value locked (TVL) across lending protocols, decentralized exchanges, and yield markets. Regulatory clarity would allow U.S. institutions to interact with these protocols without the legal ambiguity that currently limits participation.
Solana and BNB Chain ranked prominently for transaction activity, stablecoin use, and decentralized applications. Both networks process significantly more transactions per second than Ethereum, making them attractive for high-frequency use cases like payments and trading.
Solana has attracted institutional interest through its PayFi ecosystem and partnerships with payment processors. The network’s low transaction costs and high throughput make it a candidate for stablecoin settlement and tokenized payments. Grayscale’s research suggests clearer rules would accelerate that adoption.
BNB Chain benefits from its connection to the Binance exchange ecosystem, which provides built-in liquidity and user access. The network hosts a wide range of DeFi protocols and gaming applications. Regulatory clarity would reduce the compliance risk for projects building on BNB Chain, potentially attracting more institutional developers.
Canton Network stood out in Grayscale’s report for its privacy-focused infrastructure designed for regulated financial institutions and tokenized real-world assets. Unlike public blockchains, Canton uses privacy-enabled smart contracts that allow institutions to transact without exposing sensitive data.
Canton Network operates on a different model than Ethereum or Solana. It is a permissioned blockchain where participants must be verified before accessing the network. This design appeals to banks, asset managers, and other regulated entities that cannot use public blockchains due to data privacy and compliance requirements.
Grayscale’s inclusion of Canton Network signals that regulatory clarity would benefit both public and permissioned blockchains, depending on the use case.
Pandl also cited additional networks positioned to benefit from clearer rules:
These networks target different segments of digital finance, from decentralized applications to specialized trading infrastructure. Grayscale’s research placed regulatory clarity at the center of competition among them.
Grayscale noted that bitcoin also remains important even though it has less native smart-contract functionality than Ethereum or Solana. BTC serves as a major collateral asset and reserve instrument in the crypto ecosystem. Clearer rules would benefit bitcoin primarily through expanded spot crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs) and institutional custody services.
Institutional adoption of bitcoin as collateral for lending and derivatives trading depends on legal clarity around custody and settlement. The CLARITY Act would address some of those questions, potentially expanding bitcoin’s use in traditional finance.
The CLARITY Act faces several remaining hurdles after the Senate committee vote. The bill must pass the full Senate and the House of Representatives before reaching the President’s desk. Lawmakers continue debating digital-asset legislation in 2026, with no guarantee of final passage.
Several factors could reduce the expected benefits for the four blockchains:
Traders watching this theme should monitor:
The naive read is that regulatory clarity benefits all crypto assets equally. The better market read is that capital flows first to networks with existing infrastructure, liquidity, and institutional relationships. Ethereum leads in tokenization and DeFi. Solana and BNB Chain lead in transaction volume and stablecoin use. Canton Network leads in privacy-compliant institutional infrastructure.
Traders should watch which networks attract the first wave of regulated products after the CLARITY Act passes. The networks that convert regulatory clarity into measurable on-chain activity will capture the most institutional capital.
For related analysis on crypto market structure and regulatory developments, see AlphaScala’s crypto market analysis and the Bitcoin (BTC) profile. The Crypto Third-Wave Call Meets $1.2B ETF Drain at $74K Bitcoin article provides context on institutional flows during regulatory uncertainty.
Prepared with AlphaScala research tooling and grounded in primary market data: live prices, fundamentals, SEC filings, hedge-fund holdings, and insider activity. Each story is checked against AlphaScala publishing rules before release. Educational coverage, not personalized advice.