Kevin O’Leary says Congress will revisit Clarity early next year as crypto tax bill advances
Policy
Kevin O’Leary says Congress will revisit Clarity early next year as crypto tax bill advances
The Shark Tank investor says Congress will face pressure to revive crypto market structure legislation as it moves to establish tax rules for digital assets.
By Helene Braun|Edited by Stephen Alpher
Updated 1 day agoPublished 1 day ago
2 min readMake preferred on ShareShare this article
Copy linkX iconX (Twitter)LinkedInFacebookEmail
Make preferred on
Kevin O'Leary (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
Summary
Show
Kevin O’Leary expects lawmakers to revisit the Clarity Act after the midterm elections.
He pointed to the House Ways and Means Committee’s crypto tax bill as a key reason he believes market-structure legislation will return.
“Once you tax, you’ve got to have policy,” O’Leary said, arguing that rules for taxing activities such as staking will increase pressure for regulatory clarity.
Shark Tank host and veteran investor Kevin O’Leary said he’s convinced the Clarity Act will eventually advance in the Senate and could return as soon as the first quarter of next year.
Speaking at the Avalanche Summit in New York on Thursday, O’Leary said he didn’t expect the bill to advance on Tuesday, when it received 49 of the 60 Senate votes needed to proceed.
“The chances of Clarity passing, in my view, were zero, and that’s what happened,” O’Leary said.
The legislation sought to establish a broader federal framework for crypto markets, including the roles of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
But O’Leary sees the failed vote as a delay rather than the end of the bill. He pointed to a separate crypto tax bill that advanced in the House this week as one reason he believes lawmakers will ultimately have to return to the issue of market structure.
The House Ways and Means Committee advanced the Digital Asset Tax Certainty Act, which seeks to establish tax rules for areas including staking, mining, small crypto transactions and broker requirements.
O’Leary argued that this creates an unusual situation in which Congress is moving toward laying out how crypto activities such as staking should be taxed while broader questions about how the industry should be regulated remain unresolved.
“Once you tax, you’ve got to have policy,” O’Leary said.
As crypto becomes a source of tax revenue, O’Leary believes lawmakers will face pressure to set clearer rules for the activities that generate it.
“We’re going to tax staking,” O’Leary said. “You know with certainty that policy’s coming in CLARITY, and it has to.”
He said he expects lawmakers to return to market-structure legislation after the midterm elections, regardless of which party controls Congress.
“When will it come? Probably in the first or second quarter after the midterms,” he said.
Newsletters
State of Crypto
Examining the intersection of cryptocurrency and government.
Preview
Sign up
By signing up, you will receive emails about CoinDesk products and you agree to our terms & conditions and privacy policy.
Clarity ActRegulation
Latest Crypto News
1CFTC sends crypto rules to White House to review as Congress stalls on Clarity Act16 hours ago
2Crypto tech provider Haruko hit by cyberattack affecting 15 clients, some funds lost16 hours ago
3DHS’s predictive policing is unconstitutional, un-American and should be stopped19 hours ago
4ECB President Christine Lagarde intervened to block Binance’s EU MiCA license: WSJ19 hours ago
5Zcash targets November upgrade to make private payments up to three times faster19 hours ago
6XRP on the brink of a golden cross as focus switches to altcoins20 hours ago
7Layer-2 and DeFi tokens lead broad crypto advance as post-Fed hike nerves fade21 hours ago
8Bitcoin weathers September storm as rate hikes and Clarity act setback test bulls21 hours ago
9Live updates: Bitcoin climbs over $80,000 as crypto shakes off Clarity failure and higher interest rates22 hours ago
10SBI Group backs payments firm dtcpay in $25 million funding round1 day ago
Latest Research
The Definitive Stablecoin Landscape Series: Asia Pacific
The Definitive Stablecoin Landscape Series: Asia Pacific
As stablecoins move into regulated finance, APAC is becoming a key proving ground. This report maps the region’s rules, use cases, and RLUSD’s role.
By CoinDesk Research
Sep 15, 2026
Commissioned byRipple
As stablecoins move into regulated finance, APAC is becoming a key proving ground. This report maps the region’s rules, use cases, and RLUSD’s role.
Why it matters:
As stablecoins move into regulated finance, APAC is becoming a key proving ground. This report maps the region’s rules, use cases, and RLUSD’s role.
View Full Report
More From Policy
CFTC sends crypto rules to White House to review as Congress stalls on Clarity Act
ECB President Christine Lagarde intervened to block Binance’s EU MiCA license: WSJ
Iran’s Strait of Hormuz toll booth ran through a bitcoin exchange, U.S. says
