CLARITY Act Framework ‘Is Not Working’ as Senate Stalls

A Blunt Assessment From the Floor

Lummis made her case earlier today, arguing that the patchwork of existing rules governing digital assets fails everyone it touches, i.e. companies building in the space, everyday holders, and the agencies meant to police fraud. The senator has taken to the Senate floor repeatedly in recent days to press colleagues on the bill, telling reporters she plans to keep speaking on it as the calendar runs down.

The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, formally H.R. 3633, would split oversight of digital assets between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Lummis has separately warned that the bill’s current momentum “will not come around again this decade,” noting that further delays would mean the legislation dies for the year.

She has also cast the standoff in more concrete terms, telling colleagues that a prolonged pushback could leave crypto custody rules exposed just as the industry scales further into mainstream finance.

The Clock Is Running out

The Senate is set to begin its August recess on August 8, and Majority Leader John Thune has not yet allocated floor time for the bill. If lawmakers fail to act before then, debate would not resume until September, cutting further into the shrinking legislative window before the midterm elections.

That timeline pressure has shown up in betting markets with prediction platforms now putting the odds of CLARITY becoming law in 2026 at roughly 30%, down sharply from above 80% in February. The bill needs 60 votes to clear the Senate floor. Republicans control 53 seats, meaning at least seven Democrats must cross over for passage, a bar that has proven difficult given unresolved objections from within the Democratic caucus.

What’s Blocking a Vote

Beyond the ethics provisions governing federal officials’ crypto holdings, which Senate negotiators have been working separately to resolve, opponents have raised concerns about how the bill treats decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols and whether its consumer-protection language goes far enough. Sen. Elizabeth Warren has argued the bill would weaken oversight enough to threaten the broader financial system, a position she has repeated since the committee vote in May.

Crypto industry groups have pushed back hard on the delay as well, with more than 200 organizations, including Coinbase, Ripple, Kraken and Circle, urging Senate leaders to bring the bill to the floor, arguing that continued uncertainty pushes innovation and jobs offshore while leaving US consumers without clear protections.

Lummis has tied the urgency directly to consumer safeguards, arguing the bill’s custody and disclosure requirements are needed precisely because existing law leaves gaps that bad actors can exploit.

That said, with floor time still unscheduled and the recess deadline days away, the bill’s fate now rests on whether Thune carves out time this week or lets it slide into the fall session. A September restart would keep CLARITY alive but push any final vote closer to the midterm campaign season, when legislative bandwidth typically shrinks further.