Senate set to unveil updated crypto Clarity Act draft

U.S. Senate negotiators are expected to circulate an updated draft of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act this week, merging separate versions previously advanced by the Banking and Agriculture Committees. The new text adds roughly 70 pages to the framework. However, the bill remains unfinished and is not yet ready for a floor vote.

The draft notably excludes an ethics provision and fails to resolve several remaining points of contention. The absence of even a placeholder for ethics language could actively undermine efforts to secure bipartisan support. Without it, the legislation is unlikely to attract the Democratic votes necessary for passage.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune has indicated a willingness to bring the bill to the floor in July, with potential vote dates floating around the weeks of July 20 or July 27. Passage would require at least 60 votes, meaning Republican backers need to win over a minimum of seven Democrats. Industry political action committees, armed with hundreds of millions of dollars, and groups like Stand With Crypto are expected to heavily pressure lawmakers ahead of any vote.

The approaching November 3 midterm election leaves lawmakers with less than four months to navigate the legislative calendar. President Donald Trump, who reportedly earned $1.4 billion from crypto, remains a central figure in the negotiations. Sources indicate the White House has recently been less engaged, though this may be a tactical pause to let other disputes settle before Trump signs off on an ethics agreement.

One major legislative obstacle has been removed from the Clarity Act negotiations. A separate housing bill awaiting Trump's signature includes a four-year ban on the Federal Reserve issuing a central bank digital currency, pushing the issue off the table until at least 2030. This prevents House lawmakers from attaching a contentious CBDC provision to the crypto bill and further delaying its progress.

The legislative push arrives as the digital asset sector struggles with a severe capital drought. The market just posted its third consecutive quarter of losses in Q2 2026, marking the longest losing streak since the 2022 bear market. Institutional capital has rotated aggressively into artificial intelligence equities, driving Bitcoin ETFs to their largest quarterly outflows since inception.

Despite these broad outflows, structural adoption of digital assets has continued regardless of price action. Clearer regulations are widely viewed by market participants as a necessary step to reverse the institutional retreat. The House Financial Services Committee's digital assets subcommittee will hold a hearing on the Clarity Act in New York on Friday to examine the newly merged text.