Tom Farley, CEO of CoinDesk owner Bullish, also said the bill’s failure is not an insurmountable hurdle.

“Durable legislation would give the digital asset industry greater certainty. But even with legislation, the real work of implementation happens at the agencies, and agencies can move faster,” he said in a post on X. SEC and CFTC rulemaking may prove more consequential in the near term for tokenized securities, including how issuers, transfer agents and issuer-sponsored tokens are treated, he said.

Nilmini Rubin, chief policy officer at Hedera, said the vote does not end the legislative effort. “We’ve seen policymakers put real time and effort into studying the underlying technology, which is a positive step in the right direction,” she said. “I think most of the industry is still as ambitious as ever that we’ll get to where we need to be.”

Still, Rubin said, U.S. competitiveness remains at risk as long as the market lacks clear rules.

“The largest loser is U.S. competitiveness because uncertainty pushes innovation and adoption in the U.S. behind other countries,” she said. “The longer the market lacks clear rules, the more difficult it is to ensure the United States remains at the center of this system, rather than on the margins of it.”