The U.S. Senate will not vote on the CLARITY Act before lawmakers leave Washington for their August recess, pushing back a decision on what would be the most comprehensive crypto market structure legislation to reach the floor. Senate Republicans are expected to depart without taking up the bill, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune confirmed there would be no vote in August, with the chamber not scheduled to return until September 14.
The delay extends a stretch of uncertainty for a bill that cleared the House last July with broad bipartisan support and had at one point looked close to a Senate floor vote. Instead, negotiations have stalled over a cluster of unresolved provisions covering stablecoin yield, illicit-finance safeguards, developer liability protections, and — the most contentious sticking point — an ethics clause that would bar senior U.S. officials, including President Trump, from supporting or participating in crypto projects while in office.
A Frustrated Response From Capitol Hill
Senator Cynthia Lummis, one of the bill's most vocal Senate advocates, said she intends to keep pushing for a resolution despite the setback.
"You all know me and how long and hard I've fought for this bill, so you can imagine how frustrated I am,"
Her comments reflect a broader sense among the bill's Senate champions that momentum, once considered strong enough to expect passage this year, has eroded as the ethics dispute and other line items remain unresolved heading into the fall session.
Odds of Passage Have Fallen Sharply
Prediction markets have registered the shift in sentiment. Polymarket currently prices the probability of CLARITY Act passage in 2026 at between 33% and 37%, down from above 80% earlier in the year, while Kalshi puts the odds of the bill becoming law by year-end at roughly 17%. With the Senate not returning until mid-September, the window for resolving the remaining disputes and pushing the bill through before the end of the year has narrowed considerably, leaving the industry without the regulatory clarity the legislation was designed to provide.
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The delay leaves crypto firms operating under the existing patchwork of state-level rules and case-by-case federal enforcement for at least several more months, with market structure legislation once again pushed to the back half of the legislative calendar.
