Senate Nears CLARITY Act Text Release As July Vote Push Builds

Senate negotiators are preparing updated CLARITY Act text for final review before a planned July push on crypto market-structure legislation.

Sen. Cynthia Lummis said the updated text review would come around the July 4 period, with lawmakers aiming to move the bill in July. The Senate Banking Committee already released earlier market-structure bill text before its May markup.

The Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act cleared Senate Banking in a 15-9 vote on May 14. All Republicans on the committee supported the bill, joined by Democratic Senators Ruben Gallego and Angela Alsobrooks.

The bill still has not passed the full Senate. Any updated text would need to survive floor debate, possible amendments, reconciliation with other Senate committee language, House alignment if changes are made, and a final signature.

Bill Splits SEC And CFTC Oversight

The CLARITY Act would create federal market-structure rules for digital assets, including definitions for digital commodities, digital securities and related intermediaries.

The Senate bill text places digital commodity market oversight with the CFTC, while keeping digital asset securities under SEC authority. It also creates registration, disclosure, custody and conduct rules for exchanges, brokers, dealers and other market participants.

The draft also includes anti-CBDC language. The Senate text would amend the Federal Reserve Act to prohibit Federal Reserve banks from offering certain products or services directly to individuals and prohibit the use of a central bank digital currency for monetary policy.

Senate Banking’s earlier version also included illicit-finance, sanctions, kiosk, AML and temporary-hold provisions. Lummis later defended the bill’s illicit-finance safeguards, saying the legislation contains more than 16 protections rather than loopholes.

Law Enforcement Positions Shift Around Section 604

Major County Sheriffs of America shifted from opposition to a neutral position on the CLARITY Act after additional discussions on Section 604, the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act.

The MCSA position update said the group’s latest letter to Senate Banking leaders kept room for further changes while recognizing continued work on law enforcement concerns. MCSA member sheriffs are responsible for protecting more than 120 million Americans across major counties.

The shift follows neutral positions from other law enforcement groups that had raised Section 604 concerns, including the National District Attorneys Association, National Association of Assistant United States Attorneys, International Association of Chiefs of Police and National Sheriffs’ Association.

The National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives separately endorsed the CLARITY Act, becoming the first major law enforcement organization to publicly back the bill.

The NOBLE endorsement said the bill preserves existing criminal authorities while adding tools for digital-asset investigations, forfeiture, kiosk oversight and financial-crime enforcement.

Other critics have continued to target Section 604, which covers certain non-custodial software developers and infrastructure providers. Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s latest illicit-finance warning said Congress should strengthen crypto finance standards rather than create new loopholes.

Senate Vote Math Still Tight

The CLARITY Act needs 60 votes to clear a Senate filibuster. Republicans do not hold enough seats to pass it alone, so final passage would require Democratic support unless Senate leaders use a different procedural route.

SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce recently said she expects the bill to pass this summer, while Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott has continued pushing for July floor action. Bloomberg Intelligence’s 60% passage estimate and Galaxy Research’s 50% to 60% range both leave the bill above zero but short of a locked outcome.

The next step is the release of updated Senate text for final review. As of July 3, the CLARITY Act had cleared Senate Banking but had not passed the full Senate.

The post Senate Nears CLARITY Act Text Release As July Vote Push Builds appeared first on Crypto Adventure.