CLARITY Act: Senate's July 4 Crypto Bill Sizzles Faster Than a Cheap Steakhouse 🎆

The White House is pressing forward with a goal of signing the CLARITY Act into law by July 4, even as journalist Eleanor Terrett described that timeline as "logistically impossible" given the legislative steps still required, including an ethics compromise, a merged agriculture text, and 60 Senate votes. White House Digital Asset Executive Director Patrick Witt told Terrett's Crypto in America podcast that "the work has continued in earnest behind the scenes since the Banking markup. The issue set has narrowed, and good faith offers are being put forward to close the gap. But time is of the essence." Witt added, "We're still making great progress across the three areas that Democrat senators had raised as ones that they wanted to see progress on," and said discussions on "ag, ethics, and BRCA" continue daily. The Senate has 31 session days remaining before the August recess, and the bill needs 60 votes to advance.

The pressure intensified this week as more than 200 crypto organizations, including Stand With Crypto, the Blockchain Association, the Crypto Council for Innovation, and The Digital Chamber, sent a June 7 letter to Senate leaders John Thune and Chuck Schumer urging a floor vote. "The Senate should now build on that momentum and give members the opportunity to advance durable market structure legislation," the letter stated, warning that "the question before Congress is whether that future will be built in the United States — under U.S. law, U.S. oversight, and American values — or continue moving to offshore jurisdictions." Senator Cynthia Lummis wrote, "The CLARITY Act passed committee. The floor is next." On June 9, a separate coalition of more than 60 firms, including Hyperliquid, Solana, MultiCoin Capital, and the DeFi Education Fund, pressed the Senate to protect developers; MultiCoin co-founder Tushar Jain said, "Defending developers is defending America's edge in the technologies that matter most." Marcos Viriato, CEO and co-founder of Parfin, told AMBCrypto that "regulatory uncertainty is more costly than regulation itself."

Ethics negotiations faltered at a Tuesday bipartisan meeting attended by Senators Kirsten Gillibrand, Ruben Gallego, Bernie Moreno, and Cynthia Lummis, alongside Witt. A Democratic source described the session as "rocky," citing what they called an "about-face" by Republicans and the White House on a prior agreement that would have let state attorneys general sue the Department of Justice over failures to enforce ethics rules, including actions against members of Congress. Republicans proposed limiting enforcement to the Attorney General and floated impeachment as a remedy; Democrats rejected both. Senators Gallego and Angela Alsobrooks indicated their support depends on strong ethics guardrails addressing President Donald Trump's crypto business interests, which an estimated $2.3 billion in family crypto earnings has put in the spotlight.

A separate dispute centers on Section 604, the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, which would provide legal relief for non-custodial platform developers. On Wednesday, the White House Crypto Council hosted about 20 people at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, including representatives from the Fraternal Order of Police, the National Association of Police Organizations, the International Association of Chiefs of Police, the National District Attorneys Association, the National Association of Assistant U.S. Attorneys, the National Sheriffs' Association, and officials from the DOJ, Treasury, and FinCEN. House Majority Whip Tom Emmer and White House AI and crypto czar David Sacks delivered opening remarks. Some law enforcement officials argue BRCA "could make it harder to combat illicit finance," and Senators Mark Warner and Catherine Cortez Masto have tied their support to law enforcement sign-off.

Industry resistance is also coming from traditional finance. Last month, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said banks would "fight" parts of the legislation on stablecoin regulation, arguing crypto firms offering payment and deposit-like services should face banking-style oversight. Senate Banking Chairman Tim Scott countered, "The fact of the matter is that even JP Morgan is now getting involved in stable coins," and said "digital assets is a part of the future of finance." Scott also projected that crypto market capitalization could expand from roughly $3 trillion to $30 trillion with clear rules in place. Prediction markets reflect uncertainty: Polymarket traders priced the bill's 2026 passage odds near 48%, down from 74% a month ago, while Kalshi listed a 46% chance of passage this year and 30% odds before August.