Senator sets CLARITY Act deadline for Congress

TLDR

A leading US senator has given Congress until the end of May to pass the CLARITY Act, a sweeping crypto market?structure bill, or risk shelving it for years.

1. Senator Bernie Moreno set an informal end?of?May deadline for the CLARITY Act, which still must clear committee, the Senate floor, and reconciliation stages.
2. The bill would define core crypto rules around SEC vs CFTC oversight, stablecoin rewards, and DeFi protections, but faces heavy bank lobbying over stablecoin yield.
3. If Congress misses the window, attention likely shifts to piecemeal SEC rulemaking and friendlier foreign jurisdictions, leaving US regulatory uncertainty in place.

Deep Dive

1. What Deadline Was Set?

At an April event in Washington, Senator Bernie Moreno said the CLARITY Act must clear Congress by the end of May, warning that failure would effectively kill crypto market?structure legislation for this cycle as election politics take over. His end?of?May ultimatum is political rather than legal, but it matters because floor time shrinks sharply after the Memorial Day recess.

Procedurally, the bill still faces five steps in just weeks: Senate Banking Committee markup, a 60 vote Senate passage, reconciliation with a version already passed by the House and the Senate Agriculture Committee, and a presidential signature. Industry groups note that prediction markets now assign less than a 50 percent chance that the Act becomes law in 2026, down from over 80 percent earlier in April.

2. What The CLARITY Act Would Change

The CLARITY Act is the main federal crypto market?structure bill. A coalition of more than 120 firms recently told the Senate it should clarify SEC and CFTC jurisdiction, protect non?custodial software developers from being treated as brokers, standardize digital asset disclosure, and prevent a state?by?state regulatory patchwork that pushes activity offshore. Their joint letter argues that the Act is now the only realistic path to a coherent US framework.

One of the most contentious pieces is stablecoin yield. Banks claim that allowing yield could trigger trillions in deposit flight, while a White House analysis cited in another bank lobbying report finds that banning yield would barely boost bank lending and would impose a net welfare cost on consumers. The compromise on the table would ban passive interest on balances but allow activity?based rewards.

3. What Happens If Congress Misses May?

If the CLARITY Act does not pass by late May, many in the industry expect comprehensive legislation to slip to 2027 or beyond. The same coalition letter warns that delay is already pushing jobs, venture capital, and infrastructure investment toward jurisdictions like Dubai and Singapore that offer clearer regimes.

In that scenario, policy focus likely shifts back to regulators. A separate DeFi coalition is already pressing the SEC to turn its April guidance on non?custodial interfaces into binding rules, viewing agency rulemaking as the only near?term source of clarity if Congress stalls. For US users and projects, that would mean living with agency interpretations instead of a single statute, and continued uncertainty on issues like DeFi, token listings, and stablecoin business models.

Conclusion

The new end?of?May line in the sand turns the CLARITY Act from a slow?burn policy project into a compressed, high?stakes window for US crypto rules. If lawmakers can overcome bank resistance on stablecoin yield and move the bill through markup and the Senate, the industry gets a clearer long?term framework. If not, crypto in the United States remains governed by fragmented guidance and enforcement, while capital and experimentation continue to flow to jurisdictions that move faster.