With Senate legislating time dwindling and a long list of key priorities before the midterms, key voices within the Trump administration and crypto community want the Senate Banking Committee to schedule a markup to advance the CLARITY Act, legislation that will establish clear regulatory framework for digital assets.
The CLARITY Act passed in the House last September but hit a stumbling block in the Senate and has been stalled for several months, despite being a top priority of President Donald Trump via his “Make America the capitol of crypto” agenda.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent noted that “Congress has spent the better part of half a decade trying to pass a framework to onshore the future of finance. It is time for Senate Banking to hold a markup and send the CLARITY Act to President Trump’s desk. Senate time is precious, and now is the time to act.”
Chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology David Sacks added, “Secretary Bessent is right: the time to act is now. Senate Banking, and then the full Senate, should pass market structure. I’m confident that they will. And then President Trump will sign this landmark bill into law.”
Over at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Paul Atkins noted that “Project Crypto is designed so once Congress acts, the SEC and CFTC are ready to implement the CLARITY Act. Secretary Bessent is right. It’s time for Congress to future-proof against rogue regulators & advance comprehensive market structure legislation to President Trump’s desk.
House Financial Services Republicans noted their own progress: “Regulatory certainty is key to U.S. leadership in digital assets. As noted in Treasury Secretary Bessent’s Wall Street Journal op-ed, uncertainty is holding innovation back. The House has acted by passing the CLARITY Act and will continue working with the Senate to get it to POTUS’ desk.”
Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R., Wyo.), a member of the Senate Banking Committee and longtime crypto ally, also called for action. “It’s time Congress passes the Clarity Act. It’s now or never.”
Public Policy Solutions, a group led by former Trump Domestic Policy Chief Joe Grogan and former CFPB Official John Czwartacki, added that “now is the time for Senate Banking to hold a markup and pass the bill for POTUS to sign — which will support President Trump’s pro-consumer and pro-crypto agenda.”
David McIntosh, President of the Club for Growth, a grassroots group that works to elect Republicans, pointed to an analysis by the White House Council of Economic Advisors which found that concerns from big banks that had delayed the bill were overblown. “Big Banks are needlessly worried that stablecoin yields will pull deposits away and hurt their lending programs. The White House Council of Economic Advisers examined this closely. Their conclusion: the concern is quantitatively small. Big Banks shouldn’t be Panicans!”
The Trump administration and the president himself are working directly with senators to address outstanding concerns, including those raised behind the scenes by senators like John Kennedy (R., La.) and sources told the Washington Reporter that they believe the last remaining obstacles have been addressed.
On Friday, reports surfaced that big banks were making one last ditch effort to derail a potential mark-up, with a trade group attempting to rally calls of concern to Sen. Thom Tillis’s (R., N.C.) office.
The White House fired back, noting that the compromise already reached addresses their concerns, with Patrick Witt, the White House Executive Director for the President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets adding that “it’s hard to explain any further lobbying by banks on this issue as motivated by anything other than greed or ignorance. Move on.”
