The U.S. Senate will not vote on the CLARITY Act before lawmakers leave Washington for a monthlong recess, pushing a decision on the crypto industry’s most closely watched piece of legislation to mid-September and drawing sharp criticism from the industry’s most vocal supporters.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune filed cloture on a motion tied to the bill on August 10, a procedural move that sets up a vote only after the chamber reconvenes, with senators eyeing a target date of September 15. The CLARITY Act, which would divide oversight of digital assets primarily between the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, cleared the House more than a year ago and advanced out of the Senate Banking Committee on a 15-9 vote in May.
Passage still requires 60 votes in the Senate, and with roughly 50 days left before the midterm elections dominate Congress’s attention, the window for a bipartisan deal keeps narrowing.
Advocates voice frustration
Senator Cynthia Lummis, one of the bill’s most prominent Republican backers, didn’t hide her irritation with the delay. “You can imagine how frustrated I am,” she said, adding that she would “continue working with my colleagues to get this done.”
“You can imagine how frustrated I am.”
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and the exchange’s chief policy officer, Faryar Shirzad, echoed that sentiment, calling the Senate’s inaction “disappointing” while expressing confidence that September would bring a resolution. Bitmine chair Tom Lee offered a more measured read, noting that broader financial markets remain fixated on inflation and jobs data rather than the fate of a single market-structure bill, according to Cointelegraph.
What's holding up the vote
The core disagreement hasn’t shifted in months: Senate Democrats want stronger ethics and conflict-of-interest provisions addressing President Trump’s own crypto holdings, while banking groups are lobbying against provisions that would let stablecoin issuers pay interest, arguing it would drain deposits away from smaller lenders.
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Prediction markets stay skeptical
Bettors on Kalshi put an 88% probability on a Senate vote happening before October 1, but Polymarket traders are far less convinced the bill actually becomes law this year — contracts on that platform, with $5.79 million wagered, price only a 26% chance of passage by December 31. If the Senate does pass a version of the bill in September, it would still need to return to the House for another vote before reaching President Trump’s desk, adding a further procedural hurdle to an already compressed legislative calendar.
