The Senate Banking Committee has confirmed Thursday, May 14 as the date it’ll begin marking up the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025 – reigniting what the crypto industry is calling the most consequential regulatory vote since the collapse of FTX rattled Washington into action.
The announcement came Friday, May 9, after months of stalled negotiations over jurisdictional boundaries, consumer protections, and whether stablecoin issuers should be allowed to pay holders a yield. Several major advocacy groups responded within hours, framing the scheduled markup as a turning point for the entire U.S. Digital asset sector.
“A make or break moment for American leadership in financial markets,” said Kristin Smith, president of the Solana Policy Institute, in a statement posted to X. Her CEO Miller Whitehouse-Levine added that the scheduled date represents “the first step” toward giving developers and financial institutions the legal certainty they need to build onchain inside the United States.
What the CLARITY Act Would Actually Do
The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act – abbreviated CLARITY Act – is a bipartisan piece of legislation designed to settle a question that has dogged the crypto industry for years: who regulates what.
Under the current system, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission have spent years fighting over jurisdiction, often leaving crypto companies in legal limbo. The CLARITY Act would draw a clear line, assigning the SEC authority over digital assets that function as securities and handing the CFTC broader oversight of commodities and spot crypto markets.
The bill also addresses consumer disclosures, developer protections, and – in its most contested section – whether yield-bearing stablecoins should be treated differently from interest-bearing bank deposits.
That last point nearly derailed the legislation in January, when a scheduled markup was postponed after Senate Banking Committee member Senator Thom Tillis pushed back on the stablecoin yield provisions. CoinDesk reported last week that crypto firms had agreed to a compromise on the yield question, which appeared to get the path back to the committee calendar.
who’s Cheering – and Who Still Has Concerns
Cody Carbone, CEO of The Digital Chamber, called Friday’s markup notice “a major step” toward clarity for the estimated 70 million Americans who hold some form of digital asset. He didn’t offer specific praise for the bill’s text but framed the mere act of as meaningful progress.
Blockchain Association CEO Summer Mersinger struck a similar tone. “Clear statutes are what American consumers, businesses, and innovators deserve,” she said in a written statement. “This work reflects months of serious engagement on difficult questions, from SEC-CFTC jurisdiction to consumer protection and developer protections.”
Ji Hun Kim, CEO of the Crypto Council for New idea, said the momentum behind the bill is now undeniable. “The time is now,” Kim said, adding that a passed CLARITY Act would provide a system that safeguards consumers, gives investors meaningful disclosures, and protects developers building in the space.
Not everyone is celebrating, however. A joint letter addressed to Banking Committee chairs Tim Scott and Elizabeth Warren, signed by a coalition of traditional banking trade groups, expressed lingering concerns about the bill’s stablecoin provisions. The banking associations proposed edits to the legislative text and argued the current draft doesn’t adequately address risks to the broader financial system.
That pushback from the banking lobby reflects a broader tension in Washington: as crypto firms push for defined rules that would legitimize their industry, incumbent financial institutions worry those rules could erode their competitive moat on payments and deposit-taking.
The White House Timeline
The markup hearing arrives against a specific White House deadline. The administration’s top crypto adviser has publicly stated a July 4 target for CLARITY Act passage – a symbolically loaded date that White House officials have repeatedly referenced in briefings with industry groups.
Whether the May 14 markup puts the bill on track to meet that deadline depends on what happens inside the committee room. A successful markup typically produces an amended version of the bill ready for a full Senate floor vote. Given the pace of prior legislative efforts on crypto, insiders acknowledge that further delays are possible – but the scheduling of the hearing at all represents the most concrete progress the bill has seen since January.
What Comes After the Markup
If the Senate Banking Committee successfully marks up the bill on May 14, it moves to the Senate floor for a full vote. The House passed its version of crypto market structure legislation last year, so any Senate bill would then need to go through a conference process to reconcile the two chambers’ texts before heading to the president’s desk.
Industry groups have been briefed on the current Senate draft and, despite the banking sector’s objections, several large crypto firms have told lobbyists they would accept the bill as written if it reaches a vote quickly.
For the tens of thousands of developers and companies building on U.S.-based blockchain infrastructure, the outcome of the May 14 session will carry enormous practical weight. A functioning market structure system would determine which tokens qualify for SEC oversight, how crypto exchanges register with regulators, and what protections retail investors can expect when trading digital assets.
The Senate Banking Committee convenes Thursday at 10 a.m. Eastern.
FAQ
what’s the CLARITY Act? The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act is a bipartisan bill that would divide regulatory responsibility for crypto markets between the SEC and the CFTC. It covers token classification, consumer protection, developer liability, and stablecoin oversight.
when’s the CLARITY Act markup vote? The Senate Banking Committee has scheduled a markup session for Thursday, May 14, 2026. A markup is a committee-level review and amendment process that precedes a full Senate floor vote.
Will the CLARITY Act pass in 2026? The White House has set a July 4, 2026 target for passage. Whether the bill meets that deadline depends on the May 14 committee vote and how quickly the full Senate can schedule floor time afterward.
Sources: CoinDesk, The Digital Chamber, Blockchain Association, Solana Policy Institute, Crypto Council for New idea, Senate Banking Committee official notice.
