CLARITY Act advances in US Congress

TLDR

The CLARITY Act, a major U.S. crypto market-structure bill, has cleared key hurdles in Congress but still faces a tight Senate calendar before it can become law.

1. The House has already passed the Act and the Senate Banking Committee advanced it with a bipartisan vote, so it is now waiting for a full Senate vote.
2. The bill would split digital asset oversight between the SEC and CFTC, set rules for exchanges and tokens, and expand consumer and tax-reporting protections.
3. Timing is the main risk, with analysts cutting passage odds to about 60 percent as the Senate schedule fills up and negotiations continue over ethics and illicit finance provisions.

Deep Dive

1. Where The CLARITY Act Stands

The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (often called the CLARITY Act) passed the U.S. House in July 2025 and later cleared the Senate Banking Committee in a 159 bipartisan vote, moving it onto the Senate calendar for potential floor action. A detailed overview notes that supporters, including Senator Cynthia Lummis and other senior lawmakers, describe it as the most consequential financial legislation of this generation as they work to finalize language in the 2026 legislative cycle. This progress means the bill is one major step from the presidents desk, but it still must pass the full Senate and be reconciled with the House version before it can become law.

2. What The Act Would Actually Do

The CLARITY Act would create a federal market structure for digital assets, dividing jurisdiction between the SEC and CFTC and defining when a token is treated as a security versus a commodity under a clear mature blockchain test. A recent summary explains that it also requires centralized exchanges and intermediaries to register under CFTC-style frameworks, adds disclosure and custody standards, and broadens tax reporting through new 1099-DA forms, while protecting non-custodial developers under a Blockchain Regulatory Certainty section. Stablecoin rules and restrictions on yield-like rewards, plus boundaries for DeFi activity, are still being refined, which is why some banks, consumer groups, and crypto firms are all lobbying heavily around the final text.

3. Odds, Risks And What To Watch

Galaxy Digitals Alex Thorn recently cut his estimate of the CLARITY Act becoming law in 2026 from 75 percent to 60 percent, citing a crowded Senate calendar, surveillance-law fights, and unresolved ethics and illicit finance provisions, rather than any collapse in political support. Senator Lummis has warned that failure to pass the bill this session could push comprehensive crypto rules out toward 2030, leaving developers and law enforcement with the current patchwork regime. For traders and builders, the key signals will be whether Senate leaders schedule a floor vote before the August recess and whether a compromise emerges on ethics rules and antiillicit finance language that can attract enough bipartisan votes.

Confidence: high, because multiple independent reports describe the same status, provisions, and timing risks.

Conclusion

The CLARITY Acts advance through the House and Senate committee confirms that comprehensive U.S. crypto rules are closer than ever, but not guaranteed. Its passage could resolve core SEC vs CFTC disputes and give exchanges and token projects a clearer playbook, while failure or long delay would prolong todays uncertainty and continue to push activity into more accommodating jurisdictions.