Industry advocates push for CLARITY Act advancement amid controversy over ethics provisions
Time is running out for Congress to pass comprehensive cryptocurrency market structure legislation ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, prompting advocacy groups to intensify their push for action.
Three major cryptocurrency industry organizations—the Crypto Council for Innovation, Digital Chamber, and Blockchain Association—sent a joint letter to United States Senate leadership on Friday, requesting that lawmakers prioritize bringing the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act to the floor for consideration.
The Friday correspondence addressed to Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer saw the trio of digital asset advocacy organizations push for action on the CLARITY Act, a measure that GOP members have been advocating to bring to a vote prior to the chamber's departure for August state work periods. While the legislation has successfully moved forward through both the Senate banking and agriculture committees, certain legislators have indicated they intend to hold back support until specific provisions receive modifications.
"[We] recognize that constructive bipartisan negotiations remain underway to secure and expand support for this critical piece of legislation," said the letter. "We appreciate these good-faith efforts of Senators on both sides of the aisle, and we encourage those discussions to continue."
The CLARITY Act, anticipated to be among the most consequential legislative measures affecting the digital asset sector, requires 60 votes for passage in the Senate, where the Republican party maintains a 52-47 advantage over the Democratic caucus. GOP lawmakers unveiled the legislative text for the market structure bill at the beginning of this week, incorporating ethics-related provisions that would prohibit government officials from creating or endorsing digital currencies, though numerous Democrats have expressed that these measures fall short of adequately preventing corrupt practices.
"Whatever piece of s--- they sent back to us, that was not a serious effort," Senator Ruben Gallego said on Thursday regarding the ethics provisions, according to Politico.
Gallego added:
"[...] After all the work that we've done with our Republican colleagues, that they would take the months and months of work and somehow interpret that and turn around and think what they offered was even remotely close."
Industry leaders weigh in on CLARITY ahead of potential floor vote
"The status quo in the US isn't working," said Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong in a Wednesday X post. "There's no federal framework, so bad actors like FTX can harm US customers and much of the industry has gone offshore totally outside US purview. This bill fixes that with strong consumer protections, real tools for law enforcement, and a path for America to lead in this industry."
Orest Gavryliak, chief legal officer of DeFi platform 1inch, spoke about the bill on Cointelegraph's Chain Reaction podcast on Friday, saying that CLARITY would help recognize a framework for non-custodial protocols rather than "regulating with enforcement."
"Some regulators, they try to be friendly to non-custodial protocols or projects, they still try to fit us in into the custodial frameworks and make us use custodial solutions to solve problems that they used to in this legacy custodial or traditional finance, which is wrong [and] doesn't apply to us at all," said Gavryliak. "That's why it's very important for CLARITY to pass."
Should legislators fail to conduct a vote on CLARITY prior to the Senate's August break, it may delay deliberation until the weeks leading up to the 2026 US midterm elections, which could potentially add complexity to ongoing discussions. According to data from Friday, Kalshi provided users with event contracts indicating a 40.3% probability that the legislation would achieve passage before the Senate enters its August recess.