Senate Banking Committee passes Digital Asset Market Clarity Act

The Senate Banking Committee voted Thursday to advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, moving the country’s most ambitious crypto market structure bill closer to a full Senate vote.

The bill cleared the panel in a 15 to 9 bipartisan vote, with Democratic Senators Ruben Gallego and Angela Alsobrooks joining Republicans to support the measure. The vote gives the legislation fresh momentum after months of negotiations over market structure, stablecoins, illicit finance controls, and investor protections.

“The CLARITY Act resolves years of jurisdictional ambiguity that left legitimate digital asset businesses operating in legal grey areas, arguably, to the benefit of malicious actors. Critically, the Act officially designates digital asset intermediaries and brings them under direct FinCEN supervision, necessitating the innovative, effective compliance programmes that FinCEN’s recent NPRM envisions,” Andrew Davies, Global Head of Regulatory Affairs at ComplyAdvantage, said in a statement.

Instead of relying on enforcement actions to shape policy, the bill aims to provide clear legal categories and compliance pathways for market participants. It also incorporates safeguards such as stablecoin reserve standards, DeFi treatment rules, and consumer protections to create a more predictable and rules-based system for innovation, supervision, and investor safety.

“With these intermediaries firmly inside the framework, the crypto sector will need to get serious about robust compliance infrastructure: transaction monitoring, name screening, sanctions compliance, and SAR filing. The technology to do this properly takes time to build and even longer to tune, and requires first-rate data to work effectively. On a less positive note, the Act’s explicit protection of unhosted wallets is a missed opportunity that I would hope to see addressed in time,” Davies added.

Getting to the Senate floor

The Banking Committee’s version needs to be reconciled with a companion bill that passed through the Senate Agriculture Committee. Then it needs 60 votes in a chamber where Republicans hold 53 seats. That means at least seven Democrats need to come along.

Democratic senators including Angela Alsobrooks, Raphael Warnock, Catherine Cortez Masto, Andy Kim, and Mark Warner are expected to play pivotal roles in negotiations.

Their focus areas include strengthening illicit finance controls, enhancing ethics rules for public officials, and addressing national security risks tied to digital asset markets. Recent amendments have emphasized tougher anti-money laundering standards and stricter conflict-of-interest provisions.

Before today’s vote, more than 130 amendments were filed for the markup session.

Senator Elizabeth Warren alone submitted 44 of them, the most by any individual member. Many targeted anti-money laundering requirements and provisions addressing crypto’s potential use in sanctions evasion.

The stablecoin fight

There is some controversy surrounding stablecoins and whether lenders should be permitted to pay interest on stablecoin balances.

Senator Tim Scott and Senator Alsobrooks reportedly brokered a compromise: financial institutions can offer activity-based rewards tied to stablecoin usage, but passive yield on idle balances is off the table. The American Bankers Association fired off more than 8,000 letters opposing even this limited concession.

Odds and timeline

The White House has set a July 4 deadline for the bill to land on President Trump’s desk, which leaves roughly seven weeks for reconciliation, floor debate, and a final vote.

TD Cowen’s Washington Research Group, which tracks legislative outcomes, gives the bill roughly a 30% chance of clearing the full Senate this year.

Some industry advocates remain optimistic about the bill’s prospects. Digital Chamber CEO Cody Carbone highlighted strong momentum and suggested the legislation could still reach the president’s desk before the August deadline.

Traders on Polymarket are more optimistic, placing the odds between 64% and 69% as of this week.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Vivian Nguyen. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.