Clarity Act Cleared for Takeoff, Senate Just Hasn't Found the Runway 🛫

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act is unlikely to pass before the August recess, though he plans to force a Senate floor vote next week to get every senator on the record. "I would like to at least get Clarity started. We'll see where the votes are," Thune told reporters, according to CNBC. Republicans hold 53 Senate seats, meaning the bill needs roughly seven Democratic votes to clear the 60-vote filibuster threshold, and that support is currently not there.

The 616-page text released this week would hand most crypto oversight to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) rather than the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and add ethics language barring federal officials, including the president, from issuing or sponsoring digital assets, with enforcement handled solely by the Justice Department. Senator Ruben Gallego, one of only two Democrats to back the bill in committee, called the GOP offer not a serious effort and said he is working with Senator Thom Tillis on counter-language. A coalition of roughly seven Democrats, including Angela Alsobrooks, Mark Warner and Catherine Cortez Masto, said the draft "falls short" on consumer and illicit-finance protections, according to Crypto in America.

Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong publicly urged Congress to pass the bill. Garlinghouse echoed comments from Ripple Chief Legal Officer Stuart Alderoty that "perfect can't be the enemy of the good," adding that "leave it on the table and consumers are left twisting in the wind with the status quo with no clear standards for bad actors." More than 200 crypto groups, including the Blockchain Association, the Crypto Council for Innovation and the Digital Chamber, sent a joint letter to Thune and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer calling for immediate floor consideration. The National Fraternal Order of Police, representing more than 382,000 officers, endorsed the revised bill on Friday, with the group stating its "initial concerns have been satisfactorily addressed."

Senate negotiators had targeted August 7 as an informal deadline for passage to keep 2026 enactment viable, a window that has now slipped, according to Punchbowl News reporter Brendan Pedersen. Senator John Kennedy warned that missing the deadline would diminish the odds of the bill becoming law this year. White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt told CoinDesk he still believes the first week of August holds potential, while Ron Hammond, head of policy and advocacy at Wintermute, said the votes exist but election politics are louder, adding that "the latter will dissipate after November and that's a narrow but very possible window."

Thune's staff indicated the next immediate priority for floor time will be a bipartisan bill to impose sanctions on Russian leadership and tariffs for trading partners, legislation championed by Senator Lindsey Graham before his death earlier this month. The Clarity Act, formally H.R. 3633, passed the House in July 2025 with 78 Democrats in favor and was advanced by the Senate Banking Committee 15-9 in May 2026 before this week's merged Banking and Agriculture Committee text was released.