US officials intensify push for CLARITY Act

TLDR

Senior US officials are mounting a coordinated push for Congress to pass the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (CLARITY Act), a long-delayed nationwide crypto rulebook.

1. Treasury, SEC and CFTC leaders are openly pressuring the Senate to advance the CLARITY Act, which passed the House in 2025 but is stalled over stablecoin yield rules.
2. The bill would define SEC vs CFTC jurisdiction, formalize rules for exchanges, DeFi and tokenized assets, and expand AML safeguards, aiming to stop crypto activity from moving offshore.
3. The key near-term watchpoints are a Senate Banking Committee markup, any compromise on stablecoin rewards, and the risk that election timing pushes crypto legislation back by years.

Deep Dive

1. Officials Increase Pressure

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, SEC Chair Paul Atkins and others are publicly urging the Senate to hold a markup and send the CLARITY Act to the Presidents desk, warning that time is limited before elections reshape Congress. Recent commentary on CoinsKid notes the bill already passed the House 294134 in July 2025 and has been stuck in the Senate Banking Committee.

Multiple articles describe a coordinated campaign where Bessent links economic security to national security, and Atkins and CFTC Chair Mike Selig say their agencies are ready to implement the law as soon as Congress acts, framing it as essential to future-proof against rogue regulators. Officials repeatedly cite Abu Dhabi and Singapore as jurisdictions attracting US crypto talent under clearer rules.

2. What CLARITY Would Change

The CLARITY Act is described as a comprehensive market-structure bill that would divide oversight between the SEC and CFTC, specifying when a token is treated as a security versus a commodity and setting rules of the road for trading venues, tokenized securities, and blockchain-based settlement systems. Community coverage highlights that it would build on the earlier GENIUS Act for stablecoins and add broader requirements around disclosures, capital, conflicts of interest, and antimoney laundering controls for platforms and intermediaries.

Supporters argue these nationwide standards would reduce years of regulatory ambiguity, help centralized exchanges, brokers and custodians register under known pathways, and give developers more predictable treatment of L1s, L2s and DeFi protocols, potentially keeping more innovation and liquidity on US rails.

3. Timelines, Risks, Scenarios

The main sticking point is stablecoin yield: banks want tight limits, while crypto firms want flexibility to offer rewards; this single issue has delayed the bill despite broad support. A White House study reportedly found that allowing stablecoin rewards poses only quantitatively small deposit-flight risks, undercutting some banking objections.

Analysts warn that if the Senate does not move before the midterm-election window closes, the CLARITY Act could slip for years, especially if committee leadership changes to less crypto-friendly figures. In parallel, the SEC is preparing its own Reg Crypto framework inspired by parts of CLARITY, which could create a more aggressive, agency-driven rule set even if the bill stalls.

Conclusion

US officials are trying to break a long-running deadlock by elevating the CLARITY Act to a national-priority issue, tying crypto rules to innovation, competitiveness and even security. For crypto users and builders, the stakes are high: passage would likely bring stricter but clearer oversight, while further delay preserves todays patchwork of enforcement-driven regulation and keeps more activity offshore. The next few Senate calendar decisions, especially on markup timing and stablecoin provisions, will determine which path the US takes.