Chainlink Labs’ Andrew McCormick calls CLARITY Act ‘the biggest imaginable unlock’ for institutional crypto

Andrew McCormick, Chainlink Labs’ Head of Institutional and Market Development, isn’t being subtle about how he sees the CLARITY Act. During a livestream on June 26, he called it “the biggest imaginable unlock for institutions to allocate at scale.”

The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025, formally known as H.R. 3633, has been slowly grinding through the legislative machinery since it passed the House last year. It hit a notable milestone in May 2026 when the Senate Banking Committee advanced a substitute version with a 15-9 vote.

Why 90-year-old laws are the real problem

McCormick identified three primary blockers preventing wider adoption of tokenized assets. First, regulatory clarity, which is exactly what the CLARITY Act aims to provide. Second, trust and confidence, meaning institutions need to believe the infrastructure won’t collapse under them. Third, education, because a surprising number of decision-makers at major financial firms still don’t fully understand how tokenization works or why it matters.

The CLARITY Act tackles the first blocker head-on by drawing clear jurisdictional lines. Digital commodities would fall primarily under CFTC oversight, while the SEC would retain limited jurisdiction over specific primary-market transactions. Right now, the ambiguity over which agency has authority over what has kept compliance departments at major banks in a permanent state of paralysis.

What this means for tokenized real-world assets

McCormick specifically highlighted tokenized equities as a category that could see significant activity once regulatory clarity arrives. Multiple major financial institutions have been running pilot programs and proof-of-concept projects in this space, but actual scaled deployment has been limited precisely because of the legal fog.

Chainlink executives have framed the CLARITY Act as a once-in-a-decade legislative opportunity.

The broader legislative picture

The CLARITY Act doesn’t exist in a vacuum. The GENIUS Act, focused on stablecoins, represents another piece of the puzzle. Together, these bills signal that Congress is moving toward a comprehensive approach rather than piecemeal rulemaking.

McCormick was appointed to his role at Chainlink Labs on June 4, 2026, making his public advocacy for the CLARITY Act one of his early priorities in the position.

What investors should be watching

If the CLARITY Act becomes law, the immediate beneficiaries would be firms providing the infrastructure that makes institutional onchain finance possible. Oracle networks and cross-chain services, which are Chainlink’s core business, would see increased demand as more traditional financial activity moves onchain.

There’s also a competitive dimension. Jurisdictions like the EU, with its MiCA framework already in effect, Singapore, and the UAE have been actively courting the same institutional capital that the CLARITY Act is designed to attract.