Bessent Drops Satoshi Quote on Senate, Demands Clarity Act Vote "NOW" 🪙

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on July 30, 2026 called on the Senate to vote immediately on the CLARITY Act ahead of next week's recess, accusing Democrats of stalling the bill to avoid political blowback from Sen. Elizabeth Warren and her self-described "anti-crypto army." In a lengthy post on X, Bessent said the Senate needs to vote "NOW" and predicted Senate Majority Leader John Thune will test Democratic resolve "in the days ahead."

The Treasury Secretary framed the dispute as a referendum on U.S. global financial leadership, asking, "Will Senate Democrats be on the side of American Exceptionalism, or will they opt to cede American leadership of a global industry for fear of the bespectacled squirrel's Left flank?" He closed his post with a quotation attributed to Bitcoin's pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto: "If you don't believe me or don't get it, I don't have time to try to convince you, sorry."

Bessent noted the House passed the CLARITY Act more than a year ago and that Senate Banking and Agriculture Committee staff have since spent "thousands of hours" negotiating bipartisan revisions, leaving Republicans with a floor-ready bill awaiting a vote. He pointed to the GENIUS Act, signed into law last year and establishing the first federal stablecoin framework, as proof that bipartisan digital-asset legislation is achievable.

The Treasury Secretary rejected criticism that the bill lacks consumer protections or anti-money-laundering safeguards, arguing that Titles II and III would significantly expand compliance requirements for digital asset intermediaries and bring them closer to the standards applied to traditional financial institutions. He also defended the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act (BRCA), a provision aimed at protecting decentralized software developers, saying it codifies longstanding Treasury Department policy that such developers are not subject to Bank Secrecy Act registration requirements. Bessent added that the Fraternal Order of Police, which previously opposed the measure, now supports it.

If enacted, the CLARITY Act would establish a federal framework for U.S. digital asset markets and divide oversight between the SEC and CFTC, with most crypto assets generally falling under CFTC jurisdiction. The bill has become one of the crypto industry's top legislative priorities in Washington, though Senate Republicans released an updated draft in May introducing contentious "ethics provisions" that have complicated bipartisan negotiations.