The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act — the most comprehensive crypto market-structure legislation ever to clear a chamber of Congress — sits 266 days after its 294–134 House passage with no Senate Banking Committee markup date confirmed. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and SEC Chair Paul Atkins ...
"Any market participants who don't want it should move to El Salvador." — Scott Bessent, U.S. Treasury Secretary, Senate Banking Committee testimony, February 2026
The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act — the most comprehensive crypto market-structure legislation ever to clear a chamber of Congress — sits 266 days after its 294–134 House passage with no Senate Banking Committee markup date confirmed. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and SEC Chair Paul Atkins both publicly called for immediate Senate action on April 8–10, framing the bill as a national security priority. The Senate Banking Committee is expected to hold a markup in the second half of April, after Easter recess ends April 13, but four unresolved disputes — stablecoin yield, DeFi treatment, ethics provisions, and SEC–CFTC jurisdictional boundaries — leave the outcome uncertain. Senator Bernie Moreno (R-OH) warned that failure to advance the bill by May effectively kills digital-asset legislation until 2027. Polymarket prices the odds of the CLARITY Act becoming law in 2026 at approximately 59%.
The bill's central tension: who controls digital-asset market structure, who earns yield inside it, and who supervises it. That question has attracted four distinct lobbying blocs — crypto firms, banks, regulators, and lawmakers — each with veto power over pieces of the text. The stablecoin yield dispute, which stalled the bill since January 2026, reached an agreement in principle in late March, but the compromise text drew objections from Coinbase and Stripe, while the American Bankers Association views it as a partial win.
The CLARITY Act — formally the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025 (H.R. 3633) — passed the House on July 17, 2025, with 216 Republican and 78 Democratic votes. The companion bill reached the Senate Agriculture Committee, which advanced its version on January 29, 2026. The Senate Banking Committee postponed its markup on January 14, 2026, after more than 100 proposed amendments were filed. Committee Chairman Tim Scott opted to delay rather than risk a failed vote.
Key dates since:
| Date | Event | |------|-------| | Jul 17, 2025 | House passes CLARITY Act, 294–134 | | Jul 18, 2025 | GENIUS Act (stablecoin bill) signed into law | | Jan 14, 2026 | Senate Banking Committee postpones markup; 100+ amendments filed | | Jan 29, 2026 | Senate Agriculture Committee advances companion bill | | Mar 10, 2026 | Senators Tillis and Alsobrooks reach agreement in principle on stablecoin yield | | Mar 17, 2026 | SEC and CFTC issue joint interpretive release classifying staking rewards as non-securities across 16 digital commodities | | Mar 23, 2026 | Stablecoin yield compromise text released for industry review | | Apr 8, 2026 | Treasury Secretary Bessent publishes Wall Street Journal op-ed calling for immediate markup | | Apr 9, 2026 | Bessent amplifies position publicly; SEC Chair Atkins tweets support | | Apr 10, 2026 | Atkins states SEC and CFTC are "ready to implement" upon passage | | Apr 13, 2026 | Easter recess ends; work period begins | | Late Apr 2026 | Targeted markup window (unconfirmed) |
As of April 10, 2026, 266 days have elapsed since the House vote. Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) confirmed the Banking Committee markup is targeted for the second half of April. Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) said proponents could move it through committee during the work period beginning April 13 and out to the full Senate before month's end.
According to CryptoSlate editor-in-chief Liam Wright, the CLARITY Act sits "at the center of a four-way fight over who gets to define that structure, who gets paid inside it, who supervises it." The four camps:
1. Crypto industry firms seek a workable federal registration path. Companies like Coinbase, however, have twice rejected the latest draft over stablecoin yield language they view as overly bank-friendly. Stripe has raised similar objections.
2. Banking lobby — led by the American Bankers Association (ABA) — opposes any stablecoin yield provision that could redirect consumer deposits. On March 5, the ABA formally rejected a White House-brokered compromise that would have allowed yield in limited peer-to-peer payment contexts. That rejection reset negotiations.
3. Regulators — the SEC and CFTC — are building parallel implementation infrastructure through "Project Crypto," a joint initiative launched in January 2026. The agencies signed a Memorandum of Understanding on March 11, 2026, to coordinate digital-asset oversight. SEC Chair Atkins stated on April 10 that both agencies are "ready to implement the CLARITY Act" once Congress acts.
4. Congressional factions remain split. Several Senate Democrats cite illicit finance concerns around DeFi provisions. Ethics language — specifically whether senior government officials should be barred from personally profiting from crypto assets — has not been agreed upon.
The stablecoin yield dispute has been the bill's primary obstacle since January 2026. The core question: should platforms be allowed to pay yield on stablecoin balances?
Standard Chartered analysts estimated in January 2026 that an open-ended yield provision could redirect up to $500 billion in deposits from developed-market banks into stablecoin products by end-2028. A separate estimate projected roughly $1 trillion leaving emerging-market banks. These figures explain the banking industry's intensity. Tether and Circle hold just 0.02% and 14.5% of reserves in bank deposits, respectively, limiting any offset from funds cycling back into the banking system.
The compromise text, released March 23, prohibits digital asset service providers — including exchanges, brokers, and affiliated entities — from offering yield directly or indirectly on stablecoin balances, "or in any manner that is economically or functionally equivalent to bank interest." This language lands closer to the bank position than the White House compromise that preceded it.
Coinbase has rejected this text. Frax Finance founder Sam Kazemian described the compromise as "one step in a much longer political process, not a final verdict."
The stablecoin yield question is distinct from the GENIUS Act, which was signed into law on July 18, 2025, and established a federal regulatory framework for payment stablecoins. The GENIUS Act's implementing regulations are expected to take effect by January 18, 2027, or 120 days after final rules are issued — whichever comes first. The CLARITY Act would layer market-structure rules on top of this existing stablecoin framework.
The CLARITY Act establishes three primary regulatory frameworks:
Token classification. The bill creates a taxonomy distinguishing digital commodities from digital securities. Assets qualifying as digital commodities fall under CFTC jurisdiction; investment contract assets remain with the SEC. The March 17 SEC–CFTC joint interpretive release — which classified staking rewards as non-securities across 16 digital commodities — serves as the regulatory precursor to this framework.
Registration pathways. Digital commodity exchanges, brokers, and dealers would register with the CFTC under a tailored regime. Trading platforms handling securities tokens register with the SEC. The bill creates new registration categories that do not exist under current law.
DeFi treatment. The bill protects software developers and peer-to-peer activity while requiring centralized intermediaries interacting with DeFi to meet risk-management, cybersecurity, and compliance standards. The Senate Banking Committee's version includes provisions giving law enforcement targeted tools to combat money laundering, terrorist financing, and sanctions evasion through centralized digital-asset intermediaries.
The April 8–10 pressure from the executive branch was coordinated. Treasury Secretary Bessent published a Wall Street Journal opinion piece on April 8, noting that the global digital-asset market cap fluctuates between $2 trillion and $3 trillion, with roughly one in six Americans owning some form of crypto. He framed the bill as a national security issue, stating: "Economic security is national security."
Bessent argued that bringing digital-asset activity into a "well-defined regulatory perimeter" would strengthen oversight, improve anti-money-laundering compliance, and reduce incentives to use offshore markets. He urged the Senate Banking Committee to "immediately hold a markup session."
On April 10, SEC Chair Atkins responded publicly, stating: "Project Crypto is designed so once Congress acts, @SECGov & @CFTC are ready to implement the CLARITY Act." This marked the first time both the Treasury and the SEC's top officials publicly lobbied for the same crypto bill within a 48-hour window.
The coordinated push reflects the administration's stated goal of making the U.S. the "crypto capital of the world" — a phrase used repeatedly by administration officials since early 2025. Bessent, in February 2026 Senate Banking Committee testimony, described opponents as "a nihilist group in the industry who prefers no regulation over this very good regulation."
Beyond stablecoin yield, at least three issues remain unresolved:
DeFi governance. Several Senate Democrats want stronger illicit-finance controls on decentralized protocols. The current text targets centralized intermediaries but leaves peer-to-peer activity largely untouched. Whether that line holds through markup is uncertain.
Ethics provisions. Whether senior government officials should be prohibited from personally profiting from crypto assets has not been agreed upon. This provision has become politically charged, though specific language has not been publicly released.
Amendment volume. The January postponement followed 100+ filed amendments. It is unclear how many remain active. A contested markup could extend beyond the April window.
Political calendar. Senator Moreno's warning — "If we don't get the Clarity Act passed by May, digital asset legislation will not pass for the foreseeable future" — reflects the narrow legislative window. Midterm election dynamics in November 2026 will dominate Senate scheduling from June onward. If the bill does not reach the full Senate floor by late May, it is unlikely to move before 2027.
Polymarket, as of April 9, prices the probability of the CLARITY Act being signed into law in 2026 at 59%, with $512,081 in total trading volume on the contract.
The CLARITY Act's passage or failure carries measurable consequences for several market segments:
Stablecoins. The yield prohibition, if enacted, preserves the current deposit structure. Stablecoin issuers would compete on payments infrastructure rather than yield — consistent with the GENIUS Act framework. The $315 billion stablecoin market would continue operating under existing yield dynamics.
Altcoin ETFs. The SEC–CFTC joint classification of 16 digital commodities, combined with the CLARITY Act's registration framework, would provide a clear legal basis for additional spot crypto ETFs. Spot XRP ETFs brought in $1.4 billion in Q1 2026 inflows. Passage would likely accelerate additional product filings.
DeFi protocols. The bill's DeFi safe harbors would reduce legal uncertainty for software developers. However, centralized intermediaries interfacing with DeFi would face new compliance obligations, potentially increasing operational costs.
Traditional finance. Banks would retain deposit economics under the current stablecoin yield compromise. The bill's registration pathways would also allow traditional financial institutions to enter digital-asset markets through regulated channels.
The CLARITY Act represents the closest the United States has come to a comprehensive digital-asset market-structure law. The GENIUS Act established stablecoin rules; the CLARITY Act would define everything else — token classification, exchange registration, custody standards, and DeFi treatment. The April 8–10 executive branch pressure campaign signals that the administration views the legislative window as genuinely narrow. Whether the Senate Banking Committee can resolve the stablecoin yield, DeFi, and ethics disputes in a two-week markup window beginning April 13 remains uncertain. The data suggests meaningful probability of passage — but also meaningful probability of another postponement that, given midterm election dynamics, could delay digital-asset legislation by 12 months or more.