Senate advances CLARITY Act 15-9

The Senate Banking Committee’s 15-9 vote on May 14 moved the CLARITY Act out of committee and onto the Senate floor, giving the crypto industry its clearest Senate advance yet on market-structure legislation. Chairman Tim Scott said the panel advanced H.R. 3633, the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025, after months of bipartisan negotiations. CNBC reported that Democratic Sens. Ruben Gallego of Arizona and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland joined all Republicans on the committee to support the bill. ### Why was that committee vote notable? The Senate Banking Committee rarely moves major crypto legislation with bipartisan support, and this bill did. Scott’s committee said the measure advanced after “nearly a year of good-faith bipartisan negotiations,” while CNBC said the vote broke 15-9 with two Democrats crossing over to back it. (banking.senate.gov) May 14 is the operative date, not May 22. The official Senate Banking Committee release is dated May 14, 2026, and says the bill “now moves to the Senate floor.” Some social posts later recirculated the vote, but the committee action itself took place on May 14 in Washington. (banking.senate.gov) ### What does the CLARITY Act actually try to do? The Senate Banking Committee’s fact sheet says the bill would draw a clearer line between assets overseen by the Securities and Exchange Commission and those overseen by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The same fact sheet says it would create a new exemption from SEC registration called “Regulation Crypto” for some projects, while preserving anti-fraud authorities and adding anti-evasion provisions. (banking.senate.gov) The committee’s substitute text shows the bill also goes beyond classification. The text includes sections on disclosure requirements, insider-trading law applicability, Bank Secrecy Act treatment, sanctions compliance, digital asset kiosks, decentralized-finance provisions, cybersecurity programs and studies on mixers, tumblers and foreign-adversary activity. (banking.senate.gov) ### Who is backing it, and who is talking it up? Tim Scott, Cynthia Lummis and Thom Tillis released the Senate bill text on May 12 and said it reflected negotiations with Democratic colleagues as well as input from regulators, law enforcement, financial institutions, innovators and consumer advocates. Tillis said he looked forward to Congress passing the legislation and “sending it to President Trump’s desk soon.” (banking.senate.gov) House Republicans have been making similar arguments for months. In a May 29, 2025 release announcing the House version, House Financial Services Committee Chairman French Hill said he looked forward to delivering the bill to Trump’s desk, while House Majority Whip Tom Emmer said he wanted to ensure the legislation was “signed into law.” ### What are supporters saying the bill would change? (banking.senate.gov) The Senate Banking Committee’s materials say the bill would replace what Republicans describe as a regulation-by-enforcement approach with a statutory framework for digital assets. The committee says the legislation would require tailored disclosures, restrict insider resales, apply anti-money-laundering rules to brokers, dealers and exchanges, and preserve tools for law enforcement. (hill.house.gov) Scott said after the vote that the committee had worked through “real differences” around consumer protection, innovation and enforcement. CNBC reported that lawmakers also continued debating how to address illicit-finance risks and the ethics question of elected officials, including Trump, profiting from crypto. (banking.senate.gov) ### What still has to happen before it becomes law? The Senate floor is the next formal stop for H.R. 3633. CNBC said the bill still faces “a long way” before becoming law because it must clear the full Senate and the House before reaching Trump. The House already has its own CLARITY push led by French Hill and other lawmakers, including Emmer. (banking.senate.gov) The next concrete milestone is a floor vote in the Senate on H.R. 3633, after which lawmakers would need to reconcile any differences across chambers before the bill could be sent to President Donald Trump. (hill.house.gov) (cnbc.com)