Historical Comparison — The “Painful Lessons” of Past Crypto Legislation

From SAB 121 to FIT21, will the Clarity Act repeat the same mistakes?

Let’s look back at several important crypto-related bills/resolutions in U.S. history to see how they ultimately turned out. History won’t simply repeat itself, but it often rhymes.

Case 1: SAB 121 Repeal Resolution (2024–2025)
In 2024, Congress passed a resolution to repeal the SEC’s SAB 121 (which required banks to treat custodial crypto assets as liabilities), receiving bipartisan support. As a result, President Biden vetoed the resolution in May 2025, and Congress failed to secure enough votes to override the veto (which requires 2/3). Lesson: Even if both chambers pass it, a presidential veto remains a huge hurdle. The Clarity Act could face the same fate.

Case 2: FIT21 Bill (2023–2024)
FIT21 was one of the predecessors of the Clarity Act, aimed at clarifying the jurisdiction of the CFTC and SEC. It was passed by the House Financial Services Committee in July 2023 with a 35:15 vote, but ultimately it never made it to a full-chamber vote. The reason was that leadership worried that divisions within the Democratic Party were too large, and forcing a vote would expose cracks. Lesson: Committee approval is not the same as a full-chamber vote, and the Speaker may choose to “press no further.”

Case 3: Stablecoin Legislation (Multiple Attempts)
Over the past three years, at least three versions of stablecoin regulatory legislation have been introduced (including the 2024 Lummis‑Gillibrand version), but none of them have passed. The main reasons involve disputes over federal versus state regulatory authority, as well as restrictions on non-bank issuers. The Clarity Act also faces disputes over specific provisions—there is still no consensus on the definition of “decentralized.”

Comparison of Differences: The advantage of the Clarity Act is that it is more concise than FIT21 and has won more support from Republicans. But the downside is that 2026 is an election year, so the time window is extremely narrow (May–September is the legislative golden period; after October, it enters election mode). Overall, I believe the success rate is about 40%.
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