Cryptocurrency supporters and industry representatives have criticized the U.S. Senate for postponing until September a vote on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (CLARITY).
On Saturday, Senate Daily Press reported that Majority Leader John Thune filed a cloture petition on the CLARITY bill to bring it to the floor for consideration. This ended speculation about when lawmakers would take up the document more than a year after its passage in the House. A vote on CLARITY is expected in mid-September when the Senate reconvenes. Passage will require the support of 60 senators.
Industry representatives criticized the Senate's inaction: the vote was delayed just 50 days before the 2026 midterm elections, which could reduce CLARITY's chances of passing.
'[You] can imagine how disappointed I am,' Senator Cynthia Lummis stated on Friday after the chamber failed to schedule a vote on CLARITY. She added: 'I will continue working with colleagues to get this done — this fight is far from over.'
Source: Cynthia Lummis
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and the company's head of policy, Faryar Shirzad, called the Senate's actions 'disappointing' but said the work must be 'finished' in September. BitMine Chairman Tom Lee wrote in the company's weekly report that 'financial markets seem more focused on recent weak inflation and employment data' than on the potential consequences of CLARITY not passing.Despite reports of progress in bipartisan negotiations on a crypto market structure bill, senators have not announced decisions in response to calls from many Democrats to tighten ethics rules. In particular, this involves rules affecting the crypto investments of U.S. President Donald Trump. Trump remains under close scrutiny from many members of Congress due to his family's crypto projects, including World Liberty Financial and a memecoin launched just days before he took office.Representatives of the banking sector, on the other hand, are urging lawmakers to assess whether CLARITY would in some cases allow companies to pay interest to stablecoin holders. This poses challenges for the industry. In a Wall Street Journal article published on Thursday before Thune's cloture petition, the publication's editorial board
wrote
that under CLARITY, small banks would lose out 'because they rely on interest payments to attract deposits.' The editorial stated:'The CLARITY bill could be beneficial after some wording tweaks,' the editorial board wrote. 'The crypto industry and its friends in Washington are posing as defenders of free markets. In reality, they want to be quasi-banks without following the same rules.'Related:
CLARITY Act Delay Opens Doors for Asian Financial Hubs: CEO of First Digital
Prediction market users still expect CLARITY to pass by 2027Despite the bill's delay in Congress, some contracts on prediction market platforms still rate the chances of CLARITY passing by year-end as high.
A contract on Kalshi with $1.23 million wagered
rated
the probability of a Senate vote on the bill before October 1 at 88%. A similar contract on Polymarket rated the probability of the bill being signed into law this year at 26%. The total amount wagered on this contract exceeded $5.79 million. If the Senate passes CLARITY, the document will have to return to the House for a vote before being sent to Trump for his signature.Magazine: BIP-110 fizzles, CLARITY vote delayed: Hodler’s Digest, Aug. 9
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