CLARITY Act gets industry ultimatum

More than 120 crypto companies and trade groups asked the Senate Banking Committee on April 23 to move the CLARITY Act to a markup. (cryptoforinnovation.org) The letter was organized by the Crypto Council for Innovation and the Blockchain Association, and signers included Coinbase, Ripple, Kraken and Circle. (cryptoforinnovation.org) (coindesk.com) The group addressed Chairman Tim Scott, Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren, Subcommittee Chair Cynthia Lummis and Subcommittee Ranking Member Ruben Gallego. It said the Senate should “notice and proceed” toward a CLARITY markup. (cryptoforinnovation.org) CLARITY is Congress’s main market-structure bill for crypto. In plain terms, it tries to decide when a token is treated more like a security policed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, and when it is treated more like a commodity overseen by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. (congress.gov) (paulhastings.com) The industry letter said agency action is “not a durable solution” and warned against a return to “regulation by enforcement,” the phrase crypto firms use for case-by-case lawsuits instead of written rules. (cryptoforinnovation.org) The House bill was introduced on May 29, 2025 by Representative French Hill and referred to the House Financial Services and Agriculture committees. It passed the House on July 17, 2025 by a 294-134 vote. (financialservices.house.gov) (congress.gov) The Senate has been working on its own market-structure language, and that is where the bottleneck sits. A Paul Hastings tracker said Senate Banking released a separate discussion draft in July 2025, while the House bill was referred to Senate Banking on September 18, 2025. (paulhastings.com) (congress.gov) Galaxy Digital said on April 22 that Senate Banking was expected to announce a markup hearing soon, but three issues were still unresolved: stablecoin yield language, decentralized-finance provisions and securing all Republican votes on the committee. (galaxy.com) That same Galaxy note said the bill still would need a Senate floor vote, reconciliation with Senate Agriculture language, reconciliation with the House-passed version and the president’s signature. It put the odds of enactment in 2026 at roughly 50-50. (galaxy.com) The industry’s message was simple: the House has already acted, and the Senate calendar is getting tighter. If Banking does not move the bill soon, the fight over who regulates crypto will stay in agencies and courts. (congress.gov) (galaxy.com)