CLARITY Act crypto market structure bill faces Senate ethics standoff

The US Senate Banking Committee published the latest text of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (CLARITY) ahead of Thursday’s markup, keeping the crypto market structure bill in focus for a potential Senate vote—but also highlighting fresh scrutiny beyond crypto. The new CLARITY Act draft reportedly includes provisions that some lawmakers say are not strictly “market structure,” including a late “Build Now Act” housing pilot program. Key Republicans (Tim Scott, Cynthia Lummis, Thom Tillis) say the text reflects continued negotiations and could move forward in a bipartisan way. However, Democratic leaders led by Kirsten Gillibrand say they will not support taking the CLARITY Act to the floor without explicit ethics language that addresses conflicts of interest involving members of Congress and the President/Vice President. Republicans argue those concerns can be handled through an ethics committee, not the Banking Committee bill language. On substance, CLARITY is expected to expand CFTC oversight of digital assets, shift some responsibilities away from the SEC, and prohibit paying interest/yield on payment stablecoins with a narrow exception for bona fide activity- or transaction-linked rewards. The bill also folds in developer-protection ideas from the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act. Traders should note the vote timeline risk: even if the CLARITY Act advances out of the Banking Committee, it still needs 60 Senate votes and may require House reconciliation later. Market reaction is likely driven by regulatory headlines and vote-count probability rather than immediate tokenomics.