As the CLARITY Act advances, crypto's growing political influence in Washington is under scrutiny. But the crypto lobby's massive campaign spend is only part of the story. The crypto industry has spent years convincing Washington that it deserves a seat at the table. Now, as Congress inches toward passing the CLARITY Act, a long-awaited crypto market structure bill, it seems it finally has one. The question is no longer whether lawmakers are listening to digital asset advocates, but whether the crypto lobby’s deep pockets and influence in election campaigns will be enough to get the legislation over the line. That debate comes as Senate negotiators work toward a potential floor vote before Congress breaks for its August recess.
Bitmine's big buy contrasts with crypto treasury peer Strategy, which reported selling millions of dollars worth of its Bitcoin holdings on Monday. Bitmine Immersion Technologies, holding one of the largest Ether (ETH) stockpiles as part of its treasury strategy, said Monday it added of $74 million worth of the second-biggest crypto by market cap, in contrast with Strategy, a major Bitcoin (BTC) holder, which offloaded coins to fund its dividend payments. Bitmine said that it held 5,742,237 ETH as of Sunday, marking an increase of 42,197 Ether since it reported on its holdings last week. The ETH holdings were reported when the token was valued at about $1,759, making its most recent buys worth about $74 million. The price of ETH has since increased to $1,792 apiece at the time of publicati…
The Major County Sheriffs of America said it still wants the CLARITY Act amended to give local law enforcement more resources to investigate illicit finance cases. The Major County Sheriffs of America reportedly said it no longer opposes the CLARITY Act after initially raising concerns over how the bill would affect illicit finance investigations. In a letter to US Senate Banking Committee chair Tim Scott and Senator Elizabeth Warren on Friday, the MCSA said it shifted its stance on the CLARITY Act to “neutral” after some of its concerns in a May 14 letter regarding Section 604 in the bill were addressed. Section 604 relates to the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, which seeks to protect developers from liability for illicit activity committed by users on their decentralized platforms.
Lawmakers in the US Senate are on state work periods until July 13, giving them only four weeks to address a cryptocurrency market structure bill before another break and possible delays due to campaigning for elections. The path of the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act, a bill intended to establish comprehensive guidelines for cryptocurrency regulation, remains uncertain with the US Congress set to break for another state work period in a matter of weeks. Since passage in the US House of Representatives in July 2025, the CLARITY Act has faced several hurdles advancing in Congress, from industry pushback on stablecoin rewards to lawmakers’ concerns about ethics. The bill passed the Senate Agriculture Committee in January and the Senate Banking Committee in May along party lines, s…
Galaxy cut its 2026 CLARITY Act odds to 50%, warning that Senate floor time is running out before the August recess. Galaxy Digital has cut its odds of the CLARITY Act becoming law in 2026 to 50%, warning that the US Senate is running out of time to move the crypto market structure bill before its August recess. “We are reducing our odds of CLARITY Act passage in 2026 to 50-50,” wrote Galaxy's head of firmwide research, Alex Thorn, citing the lack of a unified Senate Banking-Agriculture text, no firm floor schedule and a narrowing legislative window before lawmakers leave Washington. Thorn said the downgrade was about the bill's timing, not substance and added that the congressional competition for floor time “intensified” after US President Donald Trump abruptly canceled the signing of t…
“Regulatory certainty should not come at the expense of accountability, transparency, victim protection, or public safety,” the law enforcement associations said. A group of law enforcement organizations and a coalition of Catholic organizations have become the latest two groups urging caution over the US CLARITY Act, which is heading for a key hearing in July. In letters sent Tuesday, four law enforcement organizations reached out to White House officials with concerns that the CLARITY Act could create oversight gaps when it comes to illicit activity. “Regulatory certainty should not come at the expense of accountability, transparency, victim protection, or public safety,” they said. The Alliance to End Human Trafficking, founded by US Catholic Sisters, said these oversights could make it…
Gambling industry groups want the US Senate to step in to clarify that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission does not have the authority to oversee prediction markets. Several national gaming and tribal organizations and labor groups have reportedly called on the US Senate to add language “that explicitly prohibits event contracts tied to sports and casino-style gaming” in the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act. According to a Wednesday Semafor report, groups tied to sports betting, including the Indian Gaming Association and American Gaming Association have united against what they called gambling on prediction markets. They requested that the US Congress use the CLARITY Act now under consideration in the Senate to affirm that “sports betting falls outside the [Commodity Future…
Kristin Smith urged the Senate to preserve developer protections in the CLARITY Act, arguing open-source builders should not be regulated as financial intermediaries. Solana Institute CEO Kristin Smith is urging the US Senate to pass the CLARITY crypto market structure bill with developer protections intact, arguing that open-source developers and blockchain infrastructure providers should not be regulated as financial intermediaries. In a thread on the X social media platform, Smith said the market structure legislation “has a real shot at passing the Senate,” making it critical for lawmakers to preserve protections for software developers.
Crypto lobby groups representing hundreds of organizations urged Senate leaders in a letter to schedule a vote on a key crypto bill ahead of the midterms. More than 200 crypto companies and organizations have urged the US Senate to pass the CLARITY Act, amid concerns that continued stalling could see it miss an important legislative window. In a letter on Monday shared by crypto lobby group Stand With Crypto, the group called on Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer “to bring the Clarity Act to the Senate floor without delay.” It said the Senate Banking Committee's vote last month to pass the bill took “months of serious, bipartisan work” and the Senate should “build on that momentum and give members the opportunity to advance durable market structure legislat…
Galaxy Digital says the Senate has a tight calendar ahead of the November elections, and the time needed to fix up and pass a key crypto bill is quickly fading. Crypto firm Galaxy Digital has lowered the odds of the Senate passing its crypto market structure bill before the end of the year, noting that the window for lawmakers to act on the bill is closing. “On May 22, we raised our estimate of the probability that the CLARITY Act becomes law in 2026 to 75%, up from the 55% we published the morning of May 14's Senate Banking markup, Galaxy’s head of research Alex Thorn said in a note on Friday. “We are now lowering that estimate to 60%.” Thorn said the bill must pass the Senate before a month-long August recess starting in late July, as “after that, the window effectively closes.” He adde…
Scott Bessent said that the Treasury Department was “proceeding with all deliberate speed” on Donald Trump’s 2025 executive order to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve and digital asset stockpile. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Senate lawmakers that his department is pushing to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve and digital asset stockpile more than a year after it was called for in an executive order from President Donald Trump. Speaking at a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Trump’s fiscal year 2027 budget for Treasury on Wednesday, Bessent said that the department was “proceeding with all deliberate speed” on the president’s 2025 order to establish Bitcoin and digital asset reserves. Although the reserve has been filled with crypto seized by the government, Treasury of…
Many Democratic lawmakers have said that they will not support any version of a crypto market structure bill without provisions on ethics to address potential conflicts of interest by elected officials. US Senate consideration of the Digital Asset Clarity (CLARITY) Act is likely to resume as members reconvene this week after an extended Memorial Day holiday. Many US lawmakers and crypto industry leaders are pushing for consideration of the CLARITY Act, a crypto market structure bill introduced by Republicans and passed by the House of Representatives in July 2025. The bill, expected to give more authority to the federal commodities regulator over digital assets, passed two crucial committees before the one-week break. It has been debated in Congress amid pushback from industry and banking…
The Senate Banking Committee voted to advance the CLARITY Act in May, but it must still pass both chambers of Congress before heading to the president's desk. The United States will lose its leadership position in crypto to other countries, including China, if US lawmakers fail to pass the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (CLARITY), a crypto market structure bill, according to Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis. Passing a comprehensive crypto regulatory framework would “ensure” that other countries “do not write the rules of the next financial era,” Lummis said. She added in a separate X post: In May, the Senate Banking Committee voted to advance the CLARITY Act after the legislation had stalled for months, reviving crypto industry hopes that the bill might be codified into law in 2026.
The future of a digital asset market structure bill in Congress is still uncertain amid concerns over ethics provisions, with the president, whose crypto ties are under scrutiny, weighing in on social media. US President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he intended to codify a “future-proof digital asset market structure,” likely referring to the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (CLARITY) under consideration in the US Senate. In a post to his Truth Social platform for the second time this week on policy claims potentially affecting the cryptocurrency industry, Trump said the law would prevent “crypto haters” in future administrations from rolling back regulations affecting digital assets. Source: Donald Trump
A16z crypto said that when US legal frameworks strike a balance between innovation and consumer protection, the impact tends to ripple through into global markets. The US CLARITY Act, which aims to provide the US crypto industry with more regulatory clarity, could have a positive ripple effect beyond the crypto sector itself, according to venture capital firm a16z crypto. “If the US provides builders with regulatory clarity, it will be a boon for domestic innovation,” a16z crypto said in an X post on Friday. A16z pointed to the passage of the GENIUS Act in July 2025, which created a regulatory framework for stablecoins, as a possible indication of what may happen following the CLARITY Act.
Santiment warned that the crypto market “typically” moves against crowd expectations, pointing to a recent rise in bullish sentiment driven by renewed momentum around the US CLARITY Act. Sentiment around Bitcoin’s near-term price direction has picked up as momentum builds behind the US CLARITY Act, which aims to provide the crypto industry with greater regulatory clarity, according to crypto sentiment platform Santiment. “Bitcoin has seen a major spike of euphoria across social media following news that the Senate Banking Committee advanced the CLARITY Act in a 15–9 bipartisan vote,” Santiment said in an X post on Friday. “This brings BTC and crypto one step closer to being ultimately passed,” Santiment said.
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission is currently headed by Chair Michael Selig, with no public statement from Donald Trump about fully staffing the five-member panel of commissioners. The Republican chair and Democratic ranking member of the US House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture have called on President Donald Trump to fully staff the leadership at a key financial regulator, citing the potential impact of a crypto market structure bill. In a Friday letter to Trump, House Agriculture Committee Chair Glenn Thompson and ranking member Angie Craig asked the president to “nominate a full panel” of bipartisan leaders for the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The representatives cited “urgent regulatory issues” facing the US regulator in addition to a “signifi…
While Senator Tim Scott touted yesterday’s markup as bipartisan, just two Democratic senators supported the bill, and no Democratic amendments were adopted. The US Senate Banking Committee passed the crypto framework CLARITY Act yesterday. Now, the bill, for which the crypto industry has heavily lobbied since it was introduced in 2025, will head to the Senate floor for a broader debate. As Cointelegraph reported, over 100 amendments were proposed while lawmakers hashed out the exact language of the bill. These covered a wide range of issues, including ethics, AI sandboxes and stablecoin yields.
Bitcoin’s break above $82,000 and a return of strong institutional demand are prerequisites to confirm a trend change for BTC price. Bitcoin’s (BTC) Thursday rally to $82,000, buoyed by the Senate Banking Committee's advancement of the CLARITY Act, has stalled amid stiff overhead resistance and weakening ETF demand. Still, analysts said that BTC’s upward momentum may increase if key conditions are met. Key takeaways: Data from TradingView showed BTC tested overhead resistance at $82,000, which has rejected the price since last week.
Lawmakers debated amendments on ethics and other issues for a digital asset market structure bill before advancing the legislation, setting up a Senate floor vote. US lawmakers in the Senate Banking Committee held a markup for a long-awaited crypto market structure bill, marking a pivotal step toward Congress’ effort to establish regulatory clarity for digital asset companies and markets. In a Thursday session of the US Senate Banking Committee, all 13 Republican members and two Democrats voted to advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (CLARITY), with nine Democrats also voting no on the bill. Senators Ruben Gallego and Angela Alsobrooks sided with Republicans to vote yay. The vote came after lawmakers proposed more than 100 amendments to the crypto bill, ranging from provisions on s…
