Apex CEO: Clarity Act failure hands Asia and Gulf a crypto edge

Peter Hughes, founder and CEO of fund administrator Apex Group, says the U.S. Senate's failure to pass the Clarity Act will push digital-asset business toward Asia, the Middle East and even Bermuda, he told CoinDesk. "I think that the Clarity Act and the delay around that will lead to people finding other solutions elsewhere," he said.

What he said

• The U.S. gap: the Clarity Act, meant to split crypto oversight between the SEC and CFTC, fell short of the 60 Senate votes it needed in September after fights over ethics provisions and stablecoin rewards. The two agencies have since proposed their own rules.
• Europe won't win by default: Hughes called the EU's MiCA regime slow to evolve and restrictive, even though its transition period ended on 1 July.
• Who gains: fast-moving hubs in Asia, the Gulf and Bermuda. Apex, which services more than $3.5 trillion in assets across 50 jurisdictions, recently partnered with droppRWA and Tokeny to tokenize real-world assets, starting in Saudi Arabia.
• The products: he sees tokenized money-market funds as the biggest institutional driver, citing a 5% fund yield against 3% on a bank savings account, plus their use as collateral. Regulated, yield-bearing stablecoins could follow for corporate treasuries in "one, three, or five years".

Our take

Hughes has a point, and a business interest: Apex sells administration in exactly the jurisdictions he praises. Still, the pattern is real. U.S. firms already operate under the GENIUS Act for stablecoins, but without a market-structure law the treatment of most tokens still depends on agency rules that the next administration could rewrite. Regulators are also tightening the screws through supervision instead, with the SEC listing tokenization among its 2027 exam priorities.

His line on banks is worth noting too: he suggested lenders shaped the stablecoin-rewards fight to protect deposits. That debate is not going away, because a tokenized fund paying 5% is a direct competitor to a 3% savings account.

What to watch: whether the Senate returns to the bill after the U.S. midterms, and whether the SEC and CFTC rules land first. Until then, issuers will keep shopping for the jurisdiction that says yes fastest.