Crypto’s Next Big Winners? 5 Altcoins to Watch if the CLARITY Act Becomes Law
Quick Answer: The CLARITY Act would formally classify tokens with existing US-liste ETFs as digital commodities, bypassing years of regulatory uncertainty. Solana, Chainlink, Hedera, Litecoin, and Dogecoin all qualify under the bill’s ETF gateway provision. Each would receive the same regulatory treatment as Bitcoin and Ethereum, unlocking institutional capital, new exchange listings, and broader financial product development. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse puts the odds of passage at 90% by April 2026.
We have already examinedthis weekend what the CLARITY Act means for XRP and why Ripple stands to benefit from formal commodity classification. But XRP is not the only token that would be transformed by the bill. The CLARITY Act contains a provision that could reshape the entire altcoin market overnight.
The mechanism is elegantly simple. Under the Senate Banking Committee’s draft, any token that serves as the principal underlying asset of a US-listed exchange-traded product as of 1 January 2026 is automatically classified as a non-ancillary digital commodity. No additional SEC disclosure required. No lengthy “mature blockchain” certification process. If your token had an ETF by the cutoff date, you are in.
That provision puts five major altcoins on the same regulatory footing as Bitcoin and Ethereum from the moment the Act takes effect. Here is why each one matters.
1. Solana (SOL) — ~$86
Solana is arguably the biggest winner outside of XRP. The token has operated under a regulatory shadow since the SEC included it in multiple enforcement actions, alleging it was an unregistered security. That classification risk has kept significant institutional capital on the sidelines despite Solana’s emergence as the fastest-growing layer-1 blockchain by developer activity and transaction volume.
The CLARITY Act removes that overhang entirely. Solana already meets the ETF gateway requirement — the Bitwise Solana Staking ETF launched in late 2025 and generated $56 million in first-day trading volume, the strongest ETF debut of the year. Morgan Stanley has since filed for its own Solana product.
Commodity classification would unlock a cascade of institutional activity: regulated custody solutions, derivatives products, inclusion in diversified crypto index funds, and broader exchange listings. For a token whose ecosystem already processes more daily transactions than Ethereum, the regulatory green light could be the catalyst that closes the valuation gap. Two independent AI analyses by ChatGPT and Google Gemini both identified Solana as one of the clearest beneficiaries of the bill, alongside Ethereum.
2. Chainlink (LINK) — ~$8.90
Chainlink occupies a unique position in the digital asset ecosystem. It is not a layer-1 blockchain competing for users and transactions. It is infrastructure — the dominant oracle network that connects smart contracts to real-world data. Over 2,000 projects across DeFi, insurance, gaming, and enterprise applications depend on Chainlink’s price feeds, verifiable randomness, and cross-chain interoperability protocol.
That infrastructure role makes Chainlink’s regulatory status unusually consequential. As the tokenisation of real-world assets accelerates — a trend the CLARITY Act is explicitly designed to support — every tokenised bond, equity, and fund unit will need reliable off-chain data. Chainlink provides it.
Commodity classification under the CLARITY Act would allow traditional financial institutions to integrate LINK into their operations without the compliance friction that currently surrounds tokens of uncertain legal status. With spot ETFs already listed and institutional adoption of Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol growing, the regulatory clarity could accelerate what is already a structural adoption trend.
3. Hedera (HBAR) — ~$0.10
Hedera is the enterprise play. Its governing council reads like a Fortune 500 board meeting: Google, IBM, Boeing, Deutsche Telekom, and — as of February 2026 — FedEx, which joined to explore distributed ledger technology for global supply chain optimisation.
The Hedera network uses a hashgraph consensus mechanism rather than traditional blockchain, enabling high throughput and low-cost transactions. Its primary use case is enterprise-grade tokenisation and data verification, positioning it squarely in the real-world asset category that institutional investors are most interested in.
HBAR’s spot ETF launched in late 2025 through Canary Capital, generating $4 million in first-hour trading volume. But the token remains one of the most undervalued relative to its enterprise partnerships and network activity. At $0.10, the market has not yet priced in what commodity classification would mean for an asset backed by some of the world’s largest corporations. The CLARITY Act would remove the single biggest barrier preventing those same corporations from using HBAR at scale in their treasury and settlement operations.
4. Litecoin (LTC) — ~$53
Litecoin is the veteran. Launched in 2011, it has operated as a faster, cheaper alternative to Bitcoin for over a decade. It has never faced an SEC enforcement action, its network is fully decentralised, and its use case — peer-to-peer digital payments — is straightforward.
So why does the CLARITY Act matter for a token that already appears to have regulatory clarity? Because appearance is not the same as statutory certainty. Without formal commodity classification, Litecoin remains in the same jurisdictional grey zone as every other non-Bitcoin token. Fund managers cannot allocate with confidence. Custody providers cannot offer services without compliance risk.
The Canary Litecoin ETF launched alongside Hedera’s in late 2025. Formal classification under the CLARITY Act would make LTC one of the safest altcoin allocations available — a regulated digital commodity with a 14-year track record, no issuer concentration risk, and a clear payment utility. For conservative institutional investors looking to diversify beyond Bitcoin, Litecoin becomes the obvious next step.
5. Dogecoin (DOGE) — ~$0.10
Dogecoin is the wildcard — and potentially the most explosive beneficiary of the CLARITY Act.
Born as a joke in 2013, DOGE has evolved into one of the most widely held and actively traded cryptocurrencies in the world. Its community is enormous, its brand recognition unmatched among altcoins, and its daily transaction volume consistently ranks in the top ten. It also has a spot ETF already listed in the US.
The CLARITY Act would classify Dogecoin as a digital commodity, placing it on equal regulatory footing with Bitcoin. For a token that many institutional investors have dismissed as a meme, this would be a paradigm shift. Commodity status opens the door to regulated derivatives, index inclusion, and institutional custody — products that would channel capital from investors who have avoided DOGE precisely because of its ambiguous legal status.
The risk, of course, is that Dogecoin’s price remains heavily sentiment-driven and correlated to social media activity — a pattern that broader market discipline and regulatory frameworks may temper but will not eliminate. But for a token trading at $0.10 with a spot ETF and imminent commodity classification, the asymmetric upside is difficult to ignore.
The Bigger Picture
The CLARITY Act does not pick winners. It removes the uncertainty that has prevented institutional capital from entering the altcoin market at scale. Every token on this list already has a US-listed ETF, a functioning network, and real-world utility. What they lack is the statutory certainty that compliance departments, risk committees, and fiduciary-bound fund managers require before allocating.
The bill provides exactly that. With passage targeted for April 2026 and bipartisan momentum in Congress, the question is no longer whether these altcoins will receive regulatory clarity. It is how quickly the market reprices them once they do.
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