CLARITY Act fails in Senate as DOJ charges two Robinhood engineers with insider trading

The U.S. Senate failed to advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (H.R.3633) on September 15, 2026, after a cloture motion fell short with a 49-50 vote. On the same day, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) unsealed criminal complaints against two former Robinhood engineers, Hefu Chai and Huaisong "Jerry" Xiang. The defendants are accused of using non-public information regarding upcoming token listings to trade perpetual futures on the decentralized exchange Hyperliquid. Prosecutors allege the pair profited over $50,000 each by trading ahead of official announcements, violating internal "Coin Aware" policies. The FBI built the case by cross-referencing internal communications with on-chain data from Hyperliquid. Both individuals face charges of commodity fraud and wire fraud, which carry maximum sentences of 10 and 20 years, respectively.