French Hill Eyes Bipartisan Path for Clarity Act Ahead of September Vote

The lawmaker said that Democrats and Republicans have narrowed their differences when it comes to passing the bill.

U.S. congressman French Hill expressed the importance of bipartisan support to get the long-awaited crypto market structure bill, the Clarity Act, over the line before the midterms.

The lawmaker told Fox Business Thursday that Democrats and Republicans have come to “narrow their differences in getting the bill drafted.

Pro-crypto lawmakers were hoping the Clarity Act passed before Congress departed for August recess. After a delay, a vote will now go ahead on September 15.

“Can Democrats work with Republicans and make sure America leads the world in distributed ledger technology and financial services?” Hill said.

“This one remaining significant issue is the ethics provision, and that is best solved by passing the legislation because everybody, no matter what family they belong to, the Trumps or not, would then be under a regulatory framework fully scrutinized by the United States government in commodity and securities and banking regulators,” he added.

The Clarity Act was first introduced by Hill, the House Financial Services Chairman, last year.

Crypto companies have long called for clear regulations for the industry. The Clarity Act drafts a framework to formally divide oversight between regulators, distinguishing which digital assets are securities, commodities or stablecoins.

The House of Representatives passed the bill last July but it has been stalled this year, mostly because the banking lobby clashed with crypto companies over paying customers stablecoin yield.

A new draft tackling the issue of ethics started circulating in July. It bans government officials from promoting or making money from crypto, something Democrats have criticized the Trump family for doing.

A group of Democrats said the bill fell short and wanted amendments. Some were accused of deliberately holding it back by Republicans like Cynthia Lummis .

Some have praised the bipartisan work that has already gone into the bill, namely Coinbase, America’s biggest crypto exchange. The company’s Chief Policy Officer, Faryar Shirzad, said in July that while some Democratic lawmakers were holding back the long-awaited legislation, younger Democrats wanted to pass it.

President Donald Trump in August said that in order for the U.S. to remain the “undisputed leader in Bitcoin and crypto,” lawmakers had to pass the “very, very powerful legislation.”