The CLARITY Act aims to build a regulatory framework for digital assets while defining the respective roles of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The proposal covers registration, oversight, custody and recordkeeping in certain areas, but it does not determine how financial institutions should reconcile transactions or replace aging back-office systems.

Regulatory clarity and operational modernization are two separate challenges. H.R. 3633, introduced by Chairman French Hill on May 29, 2025, is intended to create a comprehensive market-structure framework for digital assets.

Section 401 would place digital-commodity cash and spot transactions conducted through registered digital-commodity exchanges, brokers and dealers under the CFTC’s exclusive jurisdiction. The provision would also establish an expedited registration route for those entities.

The SEC would maintain its authority over fraud and market manipulation involving permitted payment stablecoins and digital commodities traded through SEC-registered firms.

Section 304 would require entities registered with both the SEC and CFTC as digital-commodity exchanges, brokers or dealers to adopt conflict-of-interest controls. It would also direct the two agencies to create a memorandum of understanding aimed at coordinating supervision, preventing unnecessary duplication and enabling appropriate information sharing.

What the CLARITY Act Leaves Out

Although the bill would clarify regulatory responsibilities, it would not directly address many of the operational issues affecting capital-markets back offices. An AutoRek survey of 250 senior operations, finance and technology executives in the U.S. and U.K. identified increasing transaction volumes, new asset classes, fragmented data and limited AI adoption as major sources of pressure.

The survey found that 85% of respondents expected legacy processes to struggle with growing activity. Among companies dealing with digital assets, 59% reported that these assets created disproportionately high operational complexity compared with other asset classes.

Data integration and compatibility ranked as the leading operational challenge for 41% of respondents. Companies also said manual workflows and spreadsheet-dependent processes generated rework equivalent to 15.9% of their operational budgets.

While 98% of surveyed firms reported using AI in at least one part of their operations, only 14% said AI was fully integrated throughout their operational processes. These results highlight technology and workflow challenges rather than questions about which regulator has jurisdiction.

A market-structure law can define asset categories, regulatory responsibilities and compliance requirements, but it cannot by itself integrate fragmented data, eliminate manual workflows or reconcile information across different internal systems.

Where CLARITY Addresses Operational Infrastructure

The bill does include some provisions with direct operational implications. Section 305 would permit brokers, dealers, transfer agents, investment advisers, investment companies and national securities exchanges to use blockchain records to satisfy existing recordkeeping requirements, subject to SEC rules issued within 180 days of enactment.

Section 402 would require futures commission merchants to safeguard customer digital assets through qualified digital-asset custodians. The congressional summary also includes requirements related to recordkeeping and preventing customer assets from being improperly commingled.

These provisions address specific custody and recordkeeping requirements rather than the broader technology and data-management issues highlighted by the AutoRek survey.

If passed, the CLARITY Act would establish statutory rules for digital commodities, registration and the respective jurisdictions of the SEC and CFTC. It would also create requirements and future rulemaking covering custody, disclosures, recordkeeping and market intermediaries.

However, the legislation would not provide a complete solution to the scalability, fragmented-data and manual-rework problems faced by capital-markets operations teams. Regulatory reform may advance alongside operational modernization, but each addresses a different part of the industry’s broader challenges.