Senate Crypto To-Do List: Vote, Recess, Repeat 🔄

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Monday he expects the chamber to hold a procedural vote on the CLARITY Act before lawmakers leave Washington for the August recess, confirming the crypto market structure bill remains on a packed pre-recess agenda. In a Monday interview with reporters, Thune listed a continuing resolution, a 74-name nominations package, Russia sanctions, the crypto market structure bill and the nomination of Jonathan Blanche among the items the Senate must clear before adjournment. "We have a bunch of stuff that we have to finish, and we'll just stay here until we finish it," Thune said, adding, "I think market structure we'll get a vote on. Whether we can get on it or not, we'll see."

Senator Cynthia Lummis separately confirmed that leadership intends to bring the bill to the floor before the recess, telling crypto journalist Eleanor Terrett that "Senator Thune has kept a place for the Clarity Act on the agenda before the August recess for many, many weeks now." Lummis added, "I believe he does intend to go through with it," though she declined to specify timing: "We will be proceeding, and I can't tell you whether it's going to be tomorrow, or Monday, or Tuesday." The Senate reconvened on August 3 but had not formally placed the bill, H.R. 3633, on its floor schedule; a 5:30 p.m. cloture vote that day was listed for H.R. 6500, not for the CLARITY Act. Crypto analyst Ted Pillows wrote that if leadership waits until Wednesday to file cloture, the earliest vote would likely be Friday, warning the delay would leave "very little time" for debate before the recess window closes.

Grayscale Investments urged Senate leaders to schedule a floor vote before the break, sending a letter to lawmakers that cited its digital asset products held by "hundreds of thousands of Americans." The firm said the bill would define oversight between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and quoted Grayscale as stating, "Senators and staff across the aisle have spent months addressing hard questions about jurisdiction, investor protections, and developer safeguards."

In the House, Rep. Mike Haridopolos, R-Fla., a Financial Services Committee member, reaffirmed his support on Fox Business' Mornings with Maria, saying, "This is about making sure that American markets are the premier markets in the world." The CLARITY Act passed the House in July 2025 by a vote of 294-134 and is backed by Coinbase, Ripple, BlackRock and Charles Schwab, though it faces opposition from New York Attorney General Letitia James.

One unresolved sticking point is a bipartisan ethics counterproposal from Senators Thom Tillis and Ruben Gallego that would empower state attorneys general to sue the Department of Justice if it fails to enforce the ethics provision. President Donald Trump has yet to sign off on the proposal, according to Terrett, citing sources familiar with the matter, and prediction-market odds of the president signing the bill into law this year have fallen below 30%, sitting at 27%.