Key Takeaways:
President Donald Trump pressed Congress to pass the Clarity Act at a White House crypto meeting on Aug 19, calling the bill "very bipartisan" as a Senate vote approaches Sept 15.
"Now we need Congress to take the next step by passing the Clarity Act, a fair version of the CLARITY Act," Trump said, flanked by the chief executives of Coinbase, Gemini, Ripple and Chainlink Labs. "It's very, very powerful structured legislation which will keep us ahead of China, keep us ahead of everyone else."
The market-structure bill, which passed the House in 2025, would codify the split between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission over digital assets, giving the CFTC authority over qualifying digital commodities while the SEC retains oversight of securities and investment contracts. Senate Majority Leader John Thune filed cloture before the August recess, scheduling a procedural vote for Sept 15 that requires 60 votes, meaning Republicans need Democratic support.
The bill faces a narrowing window before Congress recesses again ahead of the November elections, and negotiators remain split on ethics language that Democrats want to restrict Trump's personal crypto holdings — which Reuters estimates have generated more than $1.4 billion for his family — as well as stablecoin yield provisions and anti-money-laundering protections.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong called the legislation "a true bipartisan compromise" that would make the administration's regulatory progress "durable into the future." SEC Chair Paul Atkins, who attended the meeting, said the agency's proposed crypto rule announced Aug 18 is tied to the need for legal permanence that Clarity would provide. "The most important priority is for Congress to send the Clarity Act to your desk for your signature," Atkins told Trump.
The White House event preceded the first meeting of the CFTC's Innovation Advisory Committee on Aug 20, a panel stocked with executives from Kraken, Anchorage Digital, Grayscale and OKX. Trump also said the CFTC was working to bring Hyperliquid into the U.S. in a "fully compliant and legal fashion," sending the HYPE token up about 11 percent.
Democratic negotiators have pushed for enforcement mechanisms beyond the Department of Justice, which the president directly controls, and have sought to extend ethics limits to senior officials across all three branches of government. Republican Sen. Thom Tillis and Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego have weighed a compromise on ethics language, but no agreement had been reached before the recess.
Even a successful cloture vote would not guarantee passage. The House would likely seek changes to the Senate package, reopening settled issues in a conference negotiation, said Peter Dugas, founder and CEO of Regulatory Intelligence Group. "Some senators will vote for cloture who might not be likely to vote for the final bill," said Ian Katz, a managing director at Capital Alpha Partners.
Bitcoin traded above $68,000 on Aug 19, up about 6 percent, as the Treasury's expanded debt buybacks eased pressure on long-dated yields and boosted risk appetite, with $1.4 billion in shorts liquidated across exchanges. Coinbase, Circle and Bullish shares rose as Clarity Act proponents expressed optimism about the bill's prospects.
The Sept 15 cloture vote will test whether the bill can clear the 60-vote threshold. If it fails, attention shifts to the post-election lame-duck session or the next Congress, where some Democrats may support market-structure legislation to appeal to voters in competitive states, said Joseph Cox, a partner at Oliver Wyman.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
