Treasury presses Senate to pass CLARITY Act

TLDR

The U.S. Treasury is publicly urging the Senate to pass the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act, a sweeping crypto market structure bill.

1. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is pressing the Senate Banking Committee to mark up and advance the CLARITY Act after it already cleared the House with bipartisan support.
2. The bill would clarify when tokens are securities, split SEC and CFTC oversight, and extend earlier stablecoin rules, aiming to keep crypto innovation and jobs in the United States.
3. Progress is stalled mainly over stablecoin yield rules and timing, with midterm elections creating a narrow window and prediction markets pricing only a moderate chance of passage by 2026.

Deep Dive

1. What Treasury Is Pushing For

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has called on the Senate to pass the Clarity Act and warned that Senate floor time is scarce, urging the Banking Committee to hold a markup and send the bill to the presidents desk. The Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act already passed the House in July 2025 by 294134 votes and has advanced through the Senate Agriculture Committee, but it remains stuck in the Senate Banking Committee over unresolved details on stablecoins and DeFi oversight. Senior regulators and allies, including SEC Chair Paul Atkins and CFTC Chair Michael Selig, have publicly said their agencies are ready to implement the law once Congress acts, adding to the coordinated pressure on the Senate to move the bill forward.

2. Why CLARITY Matters For Crypto

The CLARITY Act is a comprehensive crypto market structure bill that would define when a digital asset is treated as a security versus a commodity, draw clear jurisdictional lines between the SEC and CFTC, and create registration pathways for trading platforms, brokers, and custodians. It is framed as the next step after the GENIUS Act, which set a framework for dollar-backed stablecoins, extending that foundation to tokenized assets, decentralized exchanges, and blockchain settlement systems. Supporters argue that regulatory uncertainty has already pushed crypto development to jurisdictions with clearer rules, such as Abu Dhabi and Singapore, and say CLARITY would give developers confidence to build in the U.S., protecting investors while keeping innovation and tax revenue onshore.

3. Roadblocks And What To Watch Next

The main political fight is over whether and how stablecoin balances can earn yield, with banks warning about deposit flight and crypto firms calling yield essential for user adoption. A White House economic analysis reportedly found that banning stablecoin yields would boost bank lending by only about 0.02 percent while reducing consumer welfare, which weakens the banks case but has not fully resolved Senate disagreements. With midterm elections approaching and Senate recesses limiting floor time, officials like Senator Cynthia Lummis have flagged late April as a critical markup window, while prediction markets currently price only a roughly 60 percent chance that CLARITY becomes law by end 2026.

Conclusion

Treasurys push to pass the CLARITY Act is about locking in a durable, onshore legal framework for digital assets rather than a short term market pump. For crypto users and builders, the key variables to watch are whether the Senate Banking Committee can strike a compromise on stablecoin yields and schedule a timely markup, since missing this window could delay comprehensive U.S. crypto rules well beyond the current Congress.