Legislative work on cryptocurrency sector issues in the U.S. Senate has reached a critical stage.
Speaking at the Rare Evo conference in Las Vegas, seasoned journalist Eleanor Terrett discussed the latest developments concerning the long-awaited "CLARITY Act" and the likelihood of its passage this year.
The U.S. Senate is engaged in intense work ahead of the August recess, and the fate of the CLARITY Act hangs in the balance between procedural hurdles and vote counts within the parties. For the bill to be passed and considered on the Senate floor, 60 votes are required.
With Republicans holding 53 seats in the Senate, support from at least seven Democratic senators is needed for the bill to pass. Terrett noted that Senate Leader John Thune's call for a vote could force the parties to compromise, and that politicians might even postpone the August recess to complete work on the bill.
One of the main obstacles to the bill's progress lies in ethics standards. Democratic senators argue that the proposed ethics text is insufficient to prevent former President Donald Trump from profiting from his own crypto projects (platforms such as the TRUMP memecoin and World Liberty Financial).
Democrats are calling for granting state attorneys general the authority to file lawsuits against the Department of Justice for potential ethics violations. Republicans and the White House oppose this proposal, arguing that such powers would lead to politically motivated lawsuits at the state level.
The draft text contains a provision, effective until 2029, that prohibits government officials and members of Congress from issuing digital assets while in office.
Another significant point of contention in the Senate is the provisions of the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act (BRCA), drafted by Representative Tom Emmer. These provisions grant criminal liability immunity to programmers who write protocols or code if their code is misused by third parties or illegal entities (e.g., North Korean hacking groups). While the crypto sector considers this provision "necessary," prosecutors and law enforcement agencies oppose it.
While the probability of the CLARITY Act passing by the end of 2026 is estimated at about 30% on prediction markets, Eleanor Terrett stated that she sees a higher likelihood of the law passing this year.
*This is not investment advice.
