John Thune says Clarity Act lacks votes to pass before August recess

Senate Majority Leader John Thune just pulled the plug on what was supposed to be crypto’s biggest legislative moment of the year. On July 23, Thune acknowledged that the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act does not have enough votes to clear the Senate before lawmakers scatter for their August break. Here’s the thing: this is the same John Thune who, barely nine days earlier on July 14, had committed to facilitating a pre-recess vote on the very same bill. What happened to the momentum The Clarity Act, formally known as H.R. 3633, was supposed to be the bill that finally gave the crypto industry a real regulatory framework. It passed the House back in July 2025 with bipartisan support. The bill’s core purpose is straightforward: draw clear lines between what the SEC oversees and what the CFTC oversees when it comes to digital assets, categorizing them into digital commodities and investment contract assets, along with regulated payment stablecoins. The legislation advanced through the Senate Banking Committee on June 1, 2026, with amendments. Instead, the bill ran headfirst into procedural trouble. Senate Democrats rejected GOP ethics provisions that had been attached to the bill, an...