Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has offered a scathing critique of the collapse of the CLARITY Act, suggesting that partisan maneuvering effectively killed the legislation. During a recent appearance onstage at OKX, Cuomo didn’t hold back his frustration over why the bill failed to gain traction, describing the situation as murder on the Orient Express. By using such a dramatic metaphor, he implied that there wasn’t just one single culprit responsible for the failure, but rather a collective effort by various political actors to ensure the act never saw the light of day.

Cuomo argued that the primary driver behind the legislative death spiral was simply election year politics. He noted that the timing of the proposal coincided poorly with upcoming midterm elections, creating an environment where lawmakers were more concerned with optics than policy progress. In his view, politicians feared how passing certain regulations might be perceived by their constituents or opponents during a high stakes campaign cycle.

While speaking to the crowd, Cuomo questioned whether officials worried about who would get credit for its passage or how it might be weaponized against them in future advertisements. This atmosphere of suspicion and strategic hesitation ultimately stalled what could have been a significant piece of fintech regulation. For Cuomo, the tragedy is not found in a lack of technical merit within the bill itself, but in a system where tactical voting outweighs substantive governance.