Crypto regulation in the US is stuck. The Clarity Act is stalled in the Senate, while the UAE has already licensed a major broker dealer in Dubai and approved a tokenisation hub for Coinbase in Abu Dhabi. Joining me to discuss this is Ron Hammond, Head of Policy and Advocacy at Wintermute, one of the largest crypto market makers. Ron, welcome to the show.
Hey, thanks for having me. I really appreciate it.
The House passed the Clarity Act over a year ago, but it is stuck at the Senate floor, with a vote pushed to September 15th. What is actually holding this up?
Right now it seems like Senate Republican leadership wants to go forward with a vote on September 15th — at least we have a date when they come back from recess. But we have seen doubts from both more of the Democrat side of the aisle, and even some Republicans. Unfortunately, the Democrats at this current moment do not seem to want to be on board — a lot of it is political, tied to Trump ethics issues. We also saw the banks try to reinvigorate the debate on stablecoin yield, trying to pick off Republicans with the argument that allowing yield on stablecoins would lead to rural lending disappearing. The White House has rebutted that with facts. But overall, we are stalling on the Clarity Act, and that is going to kick it to the regulators — the CFTC, the SEC — and into high gear on the regulatory side. But regulatory action does not have the same staying power as legislation.
Dubai's VARA recently granted a broker-dealer license to Coinbase. From a policy standpoint, what does VARA get right that US regulators are still fighting over?
Abu Dhabi and Dubai have really taken the lead here. For years, people viewed going to Dubai as more of a sketchy move to avoid regulation. But with VARA issuing that broker-dealer license, and with other clear licensing activity, they are showing this is a very competitive space — with clear rules and guidelines. The MENA world is willing to play ball, and they are making sure very large companies have a regulated home. The UK is doing the same. I am going to Riyadh next week and there is a huge push from people saying they want to bring businesses to the MENA region, because there are regulations on the books here, and if you want to get to Asian markets, MENA is a great place to be operating from.
Why is there such a gap between VARA issuing licenses and Washington still debating?
I used to work in Congress for five years and I worked on one of the first versions of the Clarity Act back in 2017. The viewpoint in the US has always been that if you want to play in this space, you play by the rules here. But for years there were no rules. Those who tried to play ended up with a lawsuit from the SEC. That has changed with this administration. But the regulatory certainty piece is critically important for businesses trying to map out whether they will be around in three to five years. We need that legislation in place to provide business certainty. And we are seeing other jurisdictions — particularly the UK and MENA — building clear frameworks while we wait. This is the United States' game to lose at this point.
Where does Wintermute stand five years from now?
We are at the epicentre of the convergence of TradFi and crypto. We are competing with firms like Citadel and Jane Street while also watching the crypto market explode further — with tokenised equities coming online and a variety of other products that are genuinely in the middle ground between Wall Street and crypto. It is here to stay for quite some time. We are growing. But overall, I think we are just getting started.
Awesome. Thank you so much for joining us.
Thanks for having us. We appreciate it.
