A senior White House official said that “trillions of dollars” in institutional capital remain on the sidelines, waiting for federal regulatory clarity before entering Bitcoin and broader crypto markets.
Patrick Witt, Executive Director of the President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets, stated in a Yahoo Finance interview that passing the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025 (CLARITY Act) is a top legislative priority for the administration.
CLARITY Act at a Critical Stage
The bill is moving through Congress with the stated goal of passage before the November 2026 midterm elections.
- The House of Representatives passed its version in July 2025.
- CFTC-related sections have cleared the Senate Agriculture Committee.
- SEC-related provisions remain stalled in the Senate Banking Committee.
🚨BREAKING: White House Official – Patrick Witt says that there are trillions of dollars in institutional capital on the sidelines waiting to enter the crypto market!
💥THE CLARITY ACT WILL BE PASSED SOON💥$RLUSD 🤝 #XRP pic.twitter.com/o1a1sTXIZQ
— JackTheRippler ©️ (@RippleXrpie) February 13, 2026
Negotiations are currently centered on stablecoin reward structures. Traditional banks argue that high-yield stablecoins could trigger deposit outflows from the banking system. Crypto firms, by contrast, view transaction-based rewards as necessary for competitive parity.
The White House has reportedly set a March 1, 2026 deadline for stakeholders to resolve the stablecoin yield dispute in order to prevent the broader bill from collapsing.
Regulation as an “Unlock”
Witt framed regulation not as a constraint, but as an institutional gateway. He suggested that once legal certainty is established, major financial institutions such as JPMorgan Chase would have clearer operational pathways to participate in crypto markets.
He described the current regulatory effort as a mechanism to “unlock” large-scale institutional capital that has remained hesitant due to compliance ambiguity.
Additional Strategic Initiatives
Alongside the market structure bill, the administration is advancing other digital asset initiatives:
- Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Review: Following the introduction of the BITCOIN Act of 2025, federal authorities are reviewing existing seized Bitcoin holdings and have temporarily halted asset sales while evaluating reserve models.
- Institutional Integration: The administration has emphasized building regulatory clarity to integrate crypto into existing financial frameworks rather than operating outside them.
Witt also cautioned that failure to pass the bill under the current pro-crypto Congress could open the door to more restrictive legislation in the future, particularly if a market downturn were to trigger political backlash similar to post-crisis regulatory responses in traditional finance.
The central message from the White House is that regulatory certainty is viewed as the final prerequisite for institutional scale participation. Whether the CLARITY Act clears its remaining hurdles will determine if the anticipated capital rotation materializes, or continues to wait on the sidelines.
