BitGo CEO Warns Clarity Act Failure Leaves Markets Exposed to Risk Worse Than Lehman

BitGo CEO Mike Belshe says the Senate’s failure to advance the Clarity Act has left US capital markets open to a dangerous setup, where one company can run an exchange, a brokerage and custody for digital assets. The Senate rejected a motion to proceed on Sept. 15, missing the 60 votes needed. Speaking at Korea Blockchain Week 2026, Belshe said BitGo backed the bill and wanted it passed. He pointed to Coinbase, which added a derivatives clearing organization license on top of its futures commission merchant license and exchange.

Custody Risk and Counterparty Credit Risk

Belshe described two core dangers. Exchanges have never held custody of a bearer asset where a lost private key means lost money. If custody fails at a firm sitting at the center of the market, he warned, the entire market goes down. On credit risk, he compared the setup to Lehman Brothers, which collapsed because it could not see its own exposure. The system survived that, he said, but may not have survived the New York Stock Exchange failing.

BitGo’s Outlook on Competitors and AI Payments

Belshe said BitGo can operate without the law after 13 years of managing crypto, while banks will move slowly out of fear of Operation Chokepoint 2.0. On AI, he said agents could pay each other in stablecoins but will still use human-style dollar interfaces, since humans will control AI longer than doomers predict.