Clarity Act Fails to Advance in Senate

The Senate failed to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, the market structure bill that would regulate crypto and other digital assets.

The 50-49 vote failed to reach the 60 votes required to move the bill forward. If the motion had proceeded, the Senate's revised draft would have been offered as a substitute for the House-passed legislation (see prior coverage). For now, however, the bill is stalled. No timetable has emerged for bringing it back to the floor, and it is unclear whether further negotiations will follow.

The bill has been the subject of much contention. According to news reports, President Trump had agreed to back some of the new ethics restrictions in the bill. The revised text incorporates much of a bipartisan ethics framework reportedly negotiated by Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ).

In a letter to the Senate Banking Committee, New York Attorney General Letitia James and 17 other attorneys general had urged a no vote unless the bill was changed further, saying the language meant to preserve state enforcement power is too vague and could be interpreted to strip states of the ability to license crypto firms and pursue fraud.

Banking trade groups, including the American Bankers Association and the Independent Community Bankers of America, had pressed the Senate to strengthen the stablecoin interest ban, arguing the current "functional and economic equivalent" standard leaves loopholes that could spur deposit flight and recommending a "substantially similar" standard instead.

Digital asset trade groups, including the Crypto Council for Innovation and the Blockchain Association, had called on the Senate to advance the bill, saying it would establish consumer protections and regulatory certainty.