CFTC chair says CLARITY Act near passage

TLDR

CFTC Chairman Michael Selig is telling Congress the CLARITY Act is nearly finished and could soon reach the president, but several procedural and political steps are still outstanding.

1. Selig says he is optimistic Congress will soon send the CLARITY Act to the president, while JPMorgan reports only 23 disputed issues remain in negotiations.
2. The bill would formally split crypto oversight between the SEC and CFTC, set stablecoin and DeFi rules, and likely lock major tokens on decentralized networks into digital commodity status.
3. The key near term signals are whether the Senate Banking Committee schedules a markup, how stablecoin yield rules land, and whether midterm politics delay any final vote.

Deep Dive

1. What The CFTC Chair Is Signaling

In recent testimony, CFTC Chair Michael Selig urged lawmakers to pass crypto market structure legislation under the CLARITY Act and said he is optimistic Congress will soon send this landmark legislation to the Presidents desk, framing it as essential to end regulatory ambiguity for digital assets and prediction markets. Reports summarizing his comments note growing bipartisan momentum around a unified framework and strong support from major crypto firms and regulators.

Separately, a JPMorgan note says the number of disputed items has fallen from about a dozen to just two or three, with the once?blocking fight over stablecoin rewards now in a good place, suggesting talks are in the endgame phase even though final text is not yet public and no Senate vote is scheduled yet.

2. How CLARITY Would Reshape Crypto

The Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act would draw a statutory line between digital commodities and digital securities, giving the CFTC primary authority over non?security crypto trading (including assets like Bitcoin and Ether) and leaving securities?like tokens under SEC oversight, according to detailed summaries of the bills text and an SEC roundtable on the proposal.

It also creates a federal framework for stablecoins and DeFi, with the latest drafts described as banning passive yield on idle stablecoin balances while allowing activity?based rewards tied to payments and platform use, with the SEC, CFTC, and Treasury given a year to define the boundaries. For assets such as XRP, multiple analyses argue the act would turn current regulatory opinions into binding law by classifying it as a digital commodity, which would reduce enforcement overhang and make institutional adoption easier if the text lands as described.

3. Timeline, Risks, And Signals To Watch

Procedurally, the bill has already passed the House with a wide bipartisan margin and cleared the Senate Agriculture Committee; it now needs a markup in the Senate Banking Committee, a 60?vote Senate floor win, reconciliation of versions, and the presidents signature, as outlined in coverage of the SECs CLARITY roundtable and related Senate briefings.

Timing is tight. Analysts and political observers highlight a mid?2026 window: if the Banking Committee does not move the bill by late spring, midterm election dynamics could push any vote into 2027 or later, and prediction markets currently price passage odds in roughly the mid?double?digits rather than as a lock. The main live risk is the stablecoin yield compromise: if banks or crypto firms balk at the final language, the same issue that delayed the bill before could stall it again.

Conclusion

Seligs comments and the shrinking list of open issues show the CLARITY Act is closer to the finish line than at any point in the last few years, but it is not guaranteed. If Congress does push it through, the law would hard?wire a CFTC/SEC split, constrain stablecoin yields, and give clearer cover for institutions to engage with major digital commodity tokens. Until a Senate markup appears on the calendar, however, the legislative clock remains the main risk to turning that vision into law.