Time running out for Clarity bill, warns expert, as odds of passing ‘diminish by the day’

If US lawmakers don’t fast-track their deliberations on the landmark Clarity bill, implementing the draft law may become impossible this year, a crypto industry insider has claimed.

The bill, the White House’s much-touted draft crypto regulatory framework, continues to divide the crypto community and bankers over the question of whether stablecoin issuers should pay yields.

“If Clarity doesn’t pass committee by the end of April, odds of passage in 2026 become extremely low,” Alex Thorn, a New York-based senior researcher at the crypto and data centre operator Galaxy Digital, wrote on X. “This needs to hit the Senate floor by early May. Floor time is running out, and the odds diminish [with] every day that passes.”

The hold-up has infuriated the White House at a time when geopolitical instability is leading to warnings of a Bitcoin bear market and a stock market collapse.

“The banks are hitting record profits, and we are not going to allow them to undermine our powerful crypto agenda,” President Donald Trump wrote on social media earlier this month.

Hurdles to clear

Thorn expressed pessimism about the chances of a breakthrough as lawmakers remain locked in talks.

“The framing right now is that the dispute over stablecoin rewards is holding up the Clarity Act,” he wrote. “But even if compromise is reached on rewards, there are very likely to be other hurdles.”

These hurdles could include regulations pertaining to the decentralised finance sector, the powers of regulators, or “even ethics,” Thorn said.

“It’s very possible that rewards are not the final hurdle, but instead just the current hill the bill is dying on,” he wrote.

The issue of crypto regulation is likely to become a major battleground for politicians ahead of the midterm elections in November.

Democratic Party leaders are preparing an assault on Trump’s crypto policies ahead of the key vote, officials told DL News last week.

Crypto market movers

• Bitcoin is trading at $71,804 today, up almost 2% over the past 24 hours.
• Ethereum is priced at $2,116, rising by 2% over the same period.

What we’re reading

• How Iran war will boost stablecoin startups’ investment efforts — DL News
• Libra scandal: forensic experts link messages by Javier Milei to memecoin promoters minutes before launch — DL News
• Illinois Senate primary pits crypto-backed candidate against Pritzker’s pick — The Washington Post
• AI payments debate → both sides wrong — Milk Road
• Court dispatch: MEV bros point to Eisenberg acquittal in high-stakes hearing — DL News

Tim Alper is a News Correspondent at DL News. Got a tip? Email him at tdalper@dlnews.com.