Senate Banking schedules May 14 CLARITY Act crypto markup

The Senate Banking Committee will mark up the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act on Thursday, 14 May, Chairman Tim Scott (R-SC) confirmed on 8 May, the first committee vote on a crypto market-structure bill after 10 months of delay.

The markup, scheduled for 2:30 p.m. UTC, follows a 1 May compromise between Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) on stablecoin yield provisions that had stalled the bill since January. The deal bars stablecoin issuers from offering passive yield that resembles bank deposit interest while permitting rewards tied to transaction volume, trading activity, or platform use.

“The committee is nearing consensus,” Scott said, describing the markup as the firmest timeline commitment yet after two missed deadlines in early 2026. The bill passed the House 294 to 134 in July 2025 but stalled in the Banking Committee amid disputes over tokenised equities, DeFi provisions, broker reporting rules, and the split of oversight between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Draft legislative text circulated to select industry participants on 8 May and drew what one source described to CoinDesk as a positive overall response, though bracketed sections remain unresolved. Democratic offices have requested additional edits. A separate dispute over ethics provisions governing federal officials’ crypto holdings complicates the bipartisan deal that revived the bill.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) said she will not support the legislation without restrictions barring senior government officials from profiting from digital assets. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) told reporters: “Any crypto legislation that doesn’t shut down this presidential corruption and protect investors isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.”

The ethics push follows a congressional Democratic report alleging President Trump’s family crypto ventures, including World Liberty Financial, produced roughly $800 million in digital asset income during the first half of 2025 and carry holdings valued at up to $11.6 billion. Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), who is leading Democratic negotiations on the issue, wants ethics language in the committee-approved text rather than left to a floor amendment, CryptoSlate reported.

Republicans counter that the ethics provisions fall outside the Banking Committee’s jurisdiction and should be addressed later in the legislative process. They have signalled openness to adding restrictions before final passage, but Democratic negotiators worry that deferring the issue lets the bill advance without binding safeguards.

The White House is pressing for completion. Patrick Witt, executive director of the President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets, told CoinDesk the administration wants the CLARITY Act on the President’s desk by 4 July, framing it as a legislative achievement for the country’s 250th anniversary. Congress recesses for Memorial Day on 21 May. That leaves a narrow window for committee action, a full Senate vote requiring 60 votes, reconciliation with the House version passed nearly a year earlier, and final passage.

SEC Chair Paul Atkins last month called on Congress to pass the CLARITY Act, telling lawmakers it would modernise crypto rules and end the agency’s reliance on enforcement actions to regulate digital assets.

Industry pushes for action

More than 120 crypto organisations, led by the Crypto Council for Innovation and the Blockchain Association, submitted a joint letter urging the committee to act, Bitcoin.com News reported. A separate petition from 28,000 Americans demanded a markup. Coinbase chief executive Brian Armstrong, who withdrew support for the bill in January over concerns about tokenised equities and DeFi provisions, signalled renewed backing on 7 May with a two-word post on X: “Mark it up.”

Circle, the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, separately urged the Banking Committee to move without further delay, calling the Tillis-Alsobrooks compromise a workable framework for stablecoin regulation.

What the bill would do

The CLARITY Act would establish the first federal framework for digital assets in the United States. It draws jurisdictional boundaries between the SEC and the CFTC, assigning securities-like tokens to the SEC and commodity-like tokens to the CFTC, and creates a registration pathway for crypto exchanges and trading platforms.

The bill codifies the ban on passive stablecoin yield while permitting activity-based rewards, ending what industry groups have described as regulation through enforcement actions. Several provisions remain contested. Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) is reportedly a holdout, and Senators Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Bernie Moreno (R-OH) have warned that missing the May deadline could delay a floor vote indefinitely. “Missing this window pushes the next opportunity to 2030,” Moreno told crypto.news.

Polling and prediction markets

A HarrisX poll of 2,008 registered voters found 52 per cent support the CLARITY Act after being given a neutral description of its provisions; 11 per cent oppose it. Some 70 per cent of respondents said the US should have already passed crypto legislation.

On Polymarket, the odds of the bill becoming law in 2026 rose to 62 per cent after the Tillis-Alsobrooks compromise, up from 31 per cent in April.

What’s next

A committee vote is only the first of several hurdles. The bill must clear the Banking Committee, pass the full Senate with 60 votes, be reconciled with the House version passed in July 2025, and secure the President’s signature. With the midterm elections in November, the legislative calendar narrows sharply after the summer recess.

Scott is still working to resolve a holdout from Senator Kennedy, crypto.news reported. If the markup proceeds on 14 May as scheduled, a full Senate vote could land in June, roughly on pace for the White House’s 4 July target.