Floor Time Goes Elsewhere The US Senate has postponed consideration of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, with Majority Leader John Thune directing the chamber's limited floor time toward
The US Senate has postponed consideration of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, with Majority Leader John Thune directing the chamber's limited floor time toward Russia sanctions legislation and federal nominations first. Thune's office had told CoinDesk that his next floor-time priority would go to the Russia legislation. The delay means a Senate vote on the crypto market structure bill is unlikely before next week at the earliest.
Though a similar version of the Clarity Act had already advanced in the House of Representatives, the Senate has been the greater bottleneck, initially hung up for months on the debate between the crypto sector and bankers over the treatment of stablecoin yield, which resulted in a compromise limiting stablecoin rewards programs to formats that would not resemble yield-bearing bank deposits.
Beyond the scheduling squeeze, negotiations over a core provision in the bill remain unresolved. The hotly debated market structure bill is not yet ready for a vote, as the parties continue to seek a compromise on a contentious provision: the ban against senior government officials, including President Donald Trump, backing crypto projects.
The ethics provision was recently agreed to by the White House and bars public officials and employees, as well as their spouses, from issuing or sponsoring a digital asset. However, the two Democrats who voted for the bill in the agriculture committee, Senators Angela Alsobrooks and Ruben Gallego, both said they oppose the current version because the ethics provision is not strong enough.
Republicans need about seven Democratic votes if all 53 GOP senators support cloture.With significant disagreements remaining at this stage, the chances that the Clarity Act can become law in 2026 could narrow, potentially throwing the industry into uncertainty over the timeline for US regulations.
Senator John Kennedy has warned that the bill's prospects will weaken if the Senate cannot secure a positive vote before the August break.Polymarket traders currently place the bill's chance of becoming law in 2026 at around 33%.
Sources:CoinDesk: US Senate puts off crypto Clarity Act for nowCNBC: Senate crypto bill would ban federal officials from issuing digital assetsThe Hill: Crypto bill faces Democratic backlash over new ethics rules
