Senate committee advances crypto bill, setting up full Senate vote
A 15-9 Senate committee vote sent the CLARITY Act forward, but Democrats warned weak anti-money-laundering rules and a stablecoin yield loophole still loom.
The Senate Banking Committee pushed the CLARITY Act forward in a 15-9 vote, handing crypto firms a long-sought step toward a federal rulebook while leaving the hardest disputes for the full Senate. The measure would draw lines around digital assets by deciding when tokens count as securities, commodities or something else, a change that would sharpen the roles of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and preserve anti-fraud authority as the market grows.
Chairman Tim Scott said the effort had "taken years," and the committee’s majority said the bill was built through more than six months of bipartisan negotiations and extensive input from lawmakers, regulators, law enforcement, financial institutions, innovators and consumer advocates. The panel released a revised 309-page amendment on May 12 and approved the legislation two days later in executive session at the Dirksen Senate Office Building in Washington. Supporters said the bill would establish clear, enforceable guardrails for digital asset markets, protect consumers and investors, counter illicit finance and national security threats, and support responsible innovation in the United States.
The politics around the bill showed how much lobbying has already shaped the debate. The crypto industry spent more than $119 million backing pro-crypto candidates in 2024, a wave of spending that has helped push market structure to the top of the Senate agenda. For the industry, the clearest prize is legal certainty. A federal framework would legitimize more of the token market by giving exchanges, issuers and other firms a better sense of which rules apply and which regulator is in charge.
But the committee vote did not settle the deeper fight over how tightly digital assets should be policed. Several Democrats said the anti-money-laundering provisions were too weak, and some argued the bill should block elected officials from profiting from crypto ventures. Ruben Gallego and Angela Alsobrooks supported the committee vote but signaled they could still oppose the bill on the Senate floor if negotiations change again.
Banks are also pressing their own case. The American Bankers Association and other financial groups want Congress to close a stablecoin-yield loophole that could let digital-asset firms sidestep the GENIUS Act ban on paying interest or yield on payment stablecoins. That clash leaves the CLARITY Act as both a grant of regulatory power and a test of how far Washington is willing to legitimize crypto markets before the next round of amendments begins.
Know something we missed? Have a correction or additional information?
Submit a Tip
