CLARITY Act and AML Compliance: What Crypto Businesses Need to Consider

Crypto companies are now operating in a market where there is an increased interconnection between regulation and financial crime measures. The exchanges, brokers, custodians, and other digital asset companies have to deal with customer risks amid cross-border and fast-paced transactions. The CLARITY Act and anti-money laundering compliance are, therefore, becoming a significant component of the broader debate about U.S. cryptocurrency regulation. The CLARITY Act is aimed at creating a federal regime for digital assets and allocating regulatory responsibilities between the SEC and CFTC. In this regard, the development of the Act in Congress has shed light on how the digital asset businesses will operate under a more structured regulatory regime. For crypto companies, regulatory developments mean much more than merely registration and market structure.

Why the CLARITY Act Matters to Crypto Businesses 

The crypto framework under the CLARITY Act aims to provide clear regulations on the operation of digital asset markets. While the House enacted its version in July 2025, the Senate has been working on its version in 2026. While the Senate Banking Committee passed its version in May, the differences among the proposals by Congress persist.

While the conversation about regulation for crypto companies involves the agency responsible for regulating an individual digital asset, it is equally important to look at the integration of compliance procedures in the changing digital asset market. Customer onboarding, sanctions screening, PEP checks, adverse media, and transaction monitoring may become increasingly relevant for digital asset companies that collaborate with banks and institutional and international customers. Regulation is also evolving beyond the CLARITY Act. For example, in April 2026, FinCEN published an update aimed at modernising AML/CFT programs for financial institutions and promoting risk-based and reasonably designed compliance programs.

Where Clarity Act AML Requirements Fit Into the Picture 

Clarity Act AML is how the anti-money laundering provisions of the pending legislation have been described. The Senate version contains obligations to comply with the Bank Secrecy Act by certain digital commodity exchanges, brokers, and dealers. Nevertheless, crypto AML obligations do not start with this piece of legislation. FinCEN has a well-established framework that deals with the relevant part of the digital asset industry. The AML framework from FinCEN requires compliance with the Bank Secrecy Act for the covered businesses, while FinCEN is continuously updating its framework for the risks from digital assets. This is important for crypto businesses because preparing for the new regulation means more than waiting for one piece of legislation to pass. Companies can enhance their controls around understanding clients, detecting risks, and monitoring financial transactions even before the passing of any legislation. This is where technology can help with compliance. An integrated AML framework can help companies manage different risk signals without treating every test as a separate one.

Connecting Crypto Screening With Transaction Risk 

Crypto transactions can happen fast between wallets, exchanges, and different countries. Looking at transaction history without context such as customer information and screening results can complicate investigations. AML Watcher helps here because it brings sanctions screening, PEP screening, adverse media, watchlist screening, and transaction monitoring together in one AML process. This way, compliance officers get more information when analysing possible risks as opposed to just receiving alerts. This approach can be helpful for crypto asset businesses as they often have to review their customers’ risks along with their transaction behaviour. For instance, a match with a sanctions list may gain importance when transaction history and other customer data are also taken into consideration. It is not about creating more alerts. It is about helping compliance teams understand what alerts to focus on.

Preparing AML Operations for a Changing Crypto Market 

The CLARITY Act & AML Compliance topic is but another development in the broader trend of how digital assets will be integrated into the regulated finance industry. Crypto companies must be equipped with compliance solutions capable of serving multiple clients, handling transactions, complying with jurisdictional differences, and meeting evolving regulatory requirements. As such, there is a need for scalable AML technology. AML screening and monitoring solutions ought to provide ongoing checks instead of depending exclusively on the data gathered during the onboarding process. AML Watcher integrates sanctions, PEP, adverse media, watchlist, and transaction monitoring functionalities into one solution. Through its TruRisk solution, the AML Watcher team enables compliance professionals to connect multiple risk factors together and investigate them through contextualised intelligence. For crypto exchanges, payment solutions, fintech firms, and other digital asset companies, creating connected AML operations could provide a firm foundation amidst an evolving regulatory environment. Try AML Watcher to link screening and transaction monitoring through AML compliance operations.