Marc Andreessen calls for permanent US crypto regulatory framework

Marc Andreessen wants the US to stop treating crypto regulation like a temporary patch job. On August 1, 2026, the Andreessen Horowitz co-founder used a podcast conversation with a16z partner Chris Dixon to make the case for a permanent federal framework governing the crypto market, one built around fraud prevention, investor protection, and space for responsible innovation to actually breathe.

The timing is deliberate. The CLARITY Act, a piece of bipartisan legislation designed to establish federal oversight of crypto markets, has already cleared the House and is working its way through the Senate. Andreessen’s public push is less a call to action and more a signal to lawmakers that the tech and venture capital community is watching closely.

What the CLARITY Act actually does

The legislation would assign oversight responsibilities to both the SEC and the CFTC, the two federal agencies that have spent years arguing over which of them actually owns crypto jurisdiction. Beyond settling that turf war, the bill introduces disclosure requirements, anti-fraud provisions, and governance rules for crypto exchanges. Projects would need to be more transparent about what they’re selling, and exchanges would face audits and compliance obligations closer to what traditional brokerages already deal with.

The CLARITY Act is also intentionally separate from the GENIUS Act, which passed earlier and targets stablecoins specifically. The CLARITY Act is the broader play, covering the wider crypto asset landscape that stablecoin legislation doesn’t touch.

Andreessen framed the need for this kind of structure in historical terms, drawing a parallel to how securities laws created the foundation for modern capital markets. Regulatory ambiguity, by contrast, mostly benefits offshore entities who operate outside US jurisdiction anyway.

Andreessen’s position isn’t just rhetorical

On March 25, 2026, Andreessen was appointed to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, known as PCAST. Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam joined alongside him. Both are vocal backers of the CLARITY Act, which means two of the more influential figures in crypto and venture capital now have a formal channel into the executive branch on technology policy.

A16z has a track record of engaging directly on policy, including submitting responses to Treasury requests for comment on blockchain technology frameworks.

Why institutional money is paying attention

Firms like BlackRock and JPMorgan have been building out tokenization and stablecoin capabilities, but compliance risk in an undefined regulatory environment creates a real ceiling on how far they can go. For an asset manager running fiduciary obligations to pension funds and endowments, the difference between operating in a legal gray zone and operating under a defined federal framework is not a minor detail.