Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a board member at crypto exchange OKX since July 2026, is urging digital asset companies to spread their political support across both major parties, arguing that federal crypto legislation only passes, and only endures, when Democrats and Republicans both have a stake in it.

His pitch lands at a precise moment: the CLARITY Act, which would divide digital asset oversight between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), stalled in the Senate on September 15, 2026, when a cloture vote to advance the bill failed 49-50. The House passed the measure in 2025. Losing cloture means the bill stays parked.

Why Cuomo says bipartisan backing matters

Cuomo's argument centers on durability. He wants a regulatory framework that survives changes in control of Congress and the White House. He warned against relying on agency action to set the rules, because regulatory guidance and enforcement priorities can flip quickly after an election, leaving the sector exposed to sudden policy reversals.

His message carries an implicit critique of current industry strategy. Industry groups have spent tens of millions of dollars backing pro-digital-asset candidates ahead of upcoming elections. Cuomo's framing suggests that how that money gets distributed across the aisle matters as much as how much of it there is.

What happened to the CLARITY Act?

The bill's Senate detour illustrates the problem. After House passage in 2025, bipartisan disagreements prevented senators from reaching consensus on the legislation, which would spell out which federal regulator oversees which digital assets.

Cloture is the procedural step the Senate uses to end debate and advance a bill toward a final vote. The 49-50 result shows how thin the margins are. Winning over even a handful of skeptical senators could be the difference between another stalled vote and a bill that reaches the floor.

Cuomo's own position in the market

Cuomo is not commenting from the sidelines. His credentials in the sector include:

• A seat on the board of crypto exchange OKX, which he joined in July 2026.
• Co-chairing a joint venture with Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent of the New York Stock Exchange, focused on tokenized assets and trading infrastructure upgrades.
• Signing New York's BitLicense law as governor in 2015, creating one of the most significant state-level crypto regulatory frameworks.

The ICE venture places Cuomo at the intersection of Wall Street market plumbing and blockchain-based trading.

What does the legislative impasse mean for the industry?

The core issue for investors and operators is regulatory risk. Without a federal statute, the rules governing tokens, exchanges and custody shift depending on who runs the SEC and the CFTC.

A bipartisan CLARITY Act would change that calculus. Clear jurisdiction between the two regulators would tell exchanges which licenses they need and tell token issuers which disclosure rules apply.

For OKX and the ICE venture Cuomo co-chairs, a durable framework also carries direct commercial weight. Both businesses depend on predictable rules for trading and tokenization.

One caveat tempers Cuomo's prescription. The SEC-CFTC split involves substantive disagreements over investor protection and regulatory reach. Spreading campaign support more evenly may open doors on Capitol Hill, but it will not settle those underlying policy questions on its own.

The industry's immediate test is arithmetic. Until Senate Republicans and Democrats can bridge their differences on the CLARITY Act, the sector will keep operating under rules that can change with each election cycle and each change of leadership at the two agencies.