CLARITY Act Advances Out of Senate Banking Committee in 15-9 Vote
The CLARITY Act cleared the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday, giving the crypto market structure bill bipartisan support as it moves toward the full Senate.
Democratic Sens. Ruben Gallego and Angela Alsobrooks joined Republicans in voting to advance the bill. Their support gave the legislation a margin beyond the committee’s 13 Republican members.
Alsobrooks said her committee vote should not be read as guaranteed support when the bill reaches the Senate floor. She said several unresolved issues still need to be addressed before final passage.
“I’ve been in negotiations for over nine months, working toward regulating digital assets in a way that protects consumers and reduces the risk of deposit flight while still allowing innovation to happen,” Alsobrooks said. She added that she voted yes in committee “in recognition of that good faith.”
The vote came after Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto tried to revive an amendment from Sens. Jack Reed and Tina Smith aimed at addressing banking industry concerns over deposit flight. Committee Chair Tim Scott had previously ruled that amendment out of order.
The bill now moves to the Senate floor process, where lawmakers are expected to work on merging the Banking Committee version with the Senate Agriculture Committee’s crypto market structure legislation.
Rounds AI Sandbox Amendment Passes With Bipartisan Support
Senators adopted an amendment from Sen. Mike Rounds that would create a regulatory “sandbox” for regulated financial firms working with artificial intelligence products, adding an AI-focused provision to the CLARITY Act markup.
The amendment passed 15-9, meaning it drew support beyond the committee’s 13 Republicans. Sens. Mark Warner and Andy Kim were among the Democrats who supported the measure.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren urged Democrats to oppose the amendment, but it still cleared with bipartisan backing. The proposal would allow financial firms to test AI tools under a supervised regulatory framework, giving companies room to experiment while regulators monitor the technology before broader deployment.
Lummis Amendments Pick Up Bipartisan Support in CLARITY Markup
A series of amendments from Sen. Cynthia Lummis gained bipartisan support Thursday as the Senate Banking Committee continued working through the CLARITY Act markup.
Several of the Lummis amendments were technical in nature, including wording changes and drafting fixes. But the vote margins were notable, with some amendments receiving 18 or 19 votes in a committee made up of 13 Republicans and 11 Democrats.
The bipartisan support does not automatically mean the full CLARITY Act will receive the same level of backing. Still, the votes suggested that at least some Democrats were willing to support targeted changes to the bill as the committee moved through the amendment process.
Sen. Mark Warner had earlier indicated he could be open to supporting the broader bill if individual amendments received separate votes. Sen. Ruben Gallego also signaled he may be willing to vote in favor of the legislation, depending on how the amendment process played out.
The votes offered one of the clearest signs during the markup that the committee could still produce some bipartisan movement on crypto market structure, even as larger fights over ethics, banking rules and stablecoin provisions remained unresolved.
Crypto Stocks Rally as CLARITY Act Hearing Fuels Risk-On Trade
Crypto-linked stocks moved higher Thursday afternoon as the Senate Banking Committee continued debating the CLARITY Act, with investors treating the hearing as a potential step toward long-awaited regulatory clarity for the digital asset sector.
Coinbase led the move. Shares of the crypto exchange jumped more than 8% during the session as traders priced in the possibility that clearer U.S. market structure rules could support deeper institutional participation in crypto markets.
Galaxy Digital also gained 6.3%, while Circle reversed an earlier drop of as much as 6% to trade about 1% higher. Bullish also erased a post-earnings decline of more than 10% and turned positive by the afternoon.
Bitcoin-linked equities joined the rally. Strategy, the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, rose 7%, while Ethereum treasury firm Bitmine advanced 5.6%.
The stock gains came as Bitcoin climbed to fresh session highs near $81,500, rising roughly 3% over the past 24 hours. Broader market strength also helped sentiment, with the Nasdaq 100 and S&P 500 trading at record levels as investors leaned back into risk assets.
Senate Panel Rejects Crypto Ethics Amendment
A Senate Banking Committee amendment seeking to restrict senior government officials from holding crypto business ties failed Thursday during the CLARITY Act markup, after a tense exchange over President Donald Trump’s links to World Liberty Financial.
The amendment, introduced by Sen. Chris Van Hollen, would have applied to senior officials including the president, vice president, members of the House and Senate. Van Hollen said the measure was aimed at preventing conflicts of interest, self-dealing and undisclosed financial exposure to the crypto industry.
“This amendment is straightforward,” Van Hollen said, arguing that it would create stronger transparency rules around officials with crypto-linked business interests. He pointed to President Trump and his family’s involvement with World Liberty Financial as the reason such language was needed.
Sen. Bernie Moreno objected to the amendment, arguing that its criminal penalties made it unsuitable for the Banking Committee and more appropriate for the Judiciary Committee. He also pushed back on Van Hollen’s description of Trump’s crypto ties as corrupt.
Moreno said Van Hollen was making conclusive claims without proof and argued that Trump should be treated as innocent unless wrongdoing is established.
The amendment failed 11-13, leaving the CLARITY Act without the proposed ethics restriction as the committee continued voting through its amendment stack.
Warren’s Epstein Records Amendment Fails in CLARITY Act Markup
Senators rejected an amendment from Sen. Elizabeth Warren that sought to force federal bank regulators to release supervisory information tied to Jeffrey Epstein, after Republicans argued the measure was outside the scope of the crypto market structure bill.
Warren introduced the amendment during the Senate Banking Committee’s CLARITY Act markup, arguing that Epstein had been an early crypto backer and that regulators should disclose what banks and supervisors knew about his financial activity.
“Jeffrey Epstein was an early backer of crypto,” Warren said, claiming he invested millions into Coinbase and recognized crypto’s potential for covert illicit payments.
Sen. Cynthia Lummis pushed back, saying confidential bank supervisory information was “not germane to digital asset market structure.”
The amendment failed 11-13. Sen. John Kennedy later indicated he may have supported the proposal if the term “co-conspirators” had been removed. Warren said she would accept the change, but Committee Chair Tim Scott moved ahead without reopening the vote.
The committee also rejected another Warren amendment that would have removed sections dealing with bank digital asset activity. That proposal failed 11-13.
A separate amendment from Sen. Dave McCormick to facilitate portfolio margining received bipartisan support and was adopted with 18 votes in favor and six opposed.
CLARITY Act Gets Its First Senate Markup
The Senate Banking Committee is taking up the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act on Thursday, opening the first major Senate markup for the long-awaited crypto market structure bill.
The committee’s 24 senators are expected to debate and vote on a series of amendments tied to the latest version of the bill, which was released after midnight Tuesday. The session will end with a committee vote on whether to send the CLARITY Act to the full Senate.
A committee approval would be a major procedural step, but not final passage. The bill would still need to be aligned with the Senate Agriculture Committee’s version, move through Senate floor debate and a full chamber vote, then be reconciled with the House version before it can reach the president’s desk.
Thursday’s markup follows a compromise on stablecoin yield, negotiated by Sens. Thom Tillis and Angela Alsobrooks. The agreement helped clear the way for the committee vote, though several unresolved fights remain.
One of the biggest open questions is whether the final bill will include an ethics provision restricting senior government officials from holding business ties to the crypto industry. The issue has gained political weight because of President Donald Trump and his family’s links to World Liberty Financial and other crypto ventures.
The banking lobby is also still pushing back. Even after the stablecoin-yield compromise, state banking groups argue the language remains too favorable to crypto firms. Bank organizations have sent letters to lawmakers, while bankers have submitted thousands of messages to senators ahead of the vote.
