Why the CLARITY Act Still Hasn’t Passed?

Congress missed its self-imposed July 4 deadline to pass the CLARITY Act, and the crypto market structure bill now faces just a 50/50 shot of clearing the Senate before an August 7 target, according to analysts.

A year of stalled negotiations

The House passed its version of the bill nearly a year ago, but the Senate has struggled to follow. Senator Cynthia Lummis, who chairs the relevant Senate subcommittee, said negotiations have been intense since last Labor Day.

“It’s been, and I argue this process, the major monkey wrench was thrown when the GENIUS Act revision that the banks wanted became a huge issue for us,” Lummis said. A GENIUS Act revision that banks wanted became a major sticking point, she said, crediting Senators Brooks and Tillis for brokering a compromise with the banking industry.

Lummis said negotiators are still finalizing details around illicit finance provisions and ethics rules, after what she described as thousands of hours of talks.

Ethics fight over Trump family crypto ties

CFTC Chairman Michael Selig, speaking separately, pointed to a different obstacle: Democratic efforts to add specific language addressing President Trump’s family and its crypto holdings.

“We’re so close, we have to get this done,” Selig said, arguing that a federal standard is needed to replace what he called a patchwork of state laws that has been bad for business.

Selig acknowledged the ethics concerns but said they risk derailing broader consensus. “I think there is a little bit of creep into ethics and other issues, and they’re just derailing the real opportunity to have a bipartisan bill in place,” he said. 

Without a deal, he warned, oversight would default back to regulators rather than a clear statutory framework, an outcome he said Democrats likely want to avoid as much as Republicans do.