US Senate Banking Panel Set to Mark Up CLARITY Act, Vote Due Thursday

The U.S. Senate Banking Committee is set to mark up the crypto market structure bill known as the CLARITY Act.

CoinDesk reported on May 14 that the committee plans to hold a markup of the bill later in the day. A markup is the stage in which a congressional committee conducts its final review of legislation before sending it to the full chamber.

The committee is also due to vote on whether to advance the CLARITY Act to the full Senate. The panel is made up of 13 Republicans and 11 Democrats, and the bill needs at least 13 votes to clear the committee.

If the measure passes the Banking Committee, it would then be combined with legislation from the Senate Agriculture Committee before heading to the Senate floor for debate and a vote, CoinDesk reported. It would then need to be reconciled with the House bill and pass the House before it can be sent to the president.

Negotiations between Republicans and Democrats over the CLARITY Act on May 13 ended without a final agreement, the report said. Provisions aimed at preventing conflicts of interest involving senior public officials' crypto holdings were among the issues discussed. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, a Republican, wrote in a May 14 post on X that she had worked with Democrats for more than nine months to prepare the CLARITY Act. The bill is meant to create a regulatory framework for the digital-asset industry where none now exists.

The crypto industry sees a solid chance that the bill will pass the Banking Committee. Coinbase Chief Executive Officer Brian Armstrong wrote in a May 13 post on X that crypto market structure legislation, including the CLARITY Act, is closer than ever. Ripple Chief Executive Officer Brad Garlinghouse wrote the same day that the Senate Banking Committee was working to move the bill forward.

The banking industry, meanwhile, has consistently opposed provisions in the CLARITY Act tied to stablecoin yields. CoinDesk reported that U.S. state bankers associations recently sent senators a letter opposing interest payments on stablecoins.