New Version of U.S. Crypto Regulatory Bill Could Come as Early as Next Week
Taylor Wilson
The Senate's merged Clarity Act for digital assets may be released next week, with a floor vote targeted for the week of July 20 — but a 60-vote procedural threshold, ethics-clause disputes, and a near-paralyzed House make passage in 2026 highly uncertain.
What did this merger actually combine?
The Senate Banking Committee and Agriculture Committee each drafted their own bill; the two are now merged into a single text over 70 pages longer, with strengthened consumer-protection provisions.
The Agriculture Committee passed its version on a strict party-line vote. This means → its internal divisions ran deeper, making the merger negotiations harder on that side.
In plain terms = two committees each wrote their own exam paper, and now they have to stitch them into one — except one paper barely passed to begin with, so the stitching is rougher.
The 60-vote threshold — who holds the cards?
Senate rules require the bill to clear a 60-vote procedural threshold, which means → a significant number of Democratic senators must come on board.
Two Democratic senators who previously voted to advance the Banking Committee version have warned they may vote no if the final text does not address their concerns — especially on ethics provisions.
The central dispute: Democrats want to bar senior officials, including the president, from maintaining business ties with the crypto industry — but the merged text has not taken a clear position. The White House has neither endorsed the text nor joined recent negotiations.
What else remains unresolved?
The federal preemption clause — how far federal law overrides individual states' crypto rules — is still unsettled.
Key seats at the SEC and CFTC remain unfilled; the White House wrote to Senate leaders this week noting that Democrats have not yet nominated anyone for the relevant minority-party positions.
This reflects a broader problem: the bill faces not only text-level bargaining but an institutional staffing vacuum that slows the entire process.
What good news did DeFi developers get?
Oregon Democratic Senator Ron Wyden wrote to Senate leadership this week backing the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act (BRCA) provisions inside the bill.
The core of that clause: crypto developers who do not hold customer assets would not be classified as money transmitters.
In plain terms = if you only write code and never touch users' money, you would not need a bank-style license — the single most important ask from the DeFi industry in this round of negotiations.
How tight is the window?
The Senate has three remaining weeks in July plus the first week of August; the legislative procedure itself will consume several of those days, leaving a very short runway.
Even if the Senate passes the bill, the House must also approve it — and the House is currently near-paralyzed by intra-Republican disagreements.
The final gate is a presidential signature — and Trump has already refused to sign a separate bipartisan housing bill. This means → whether the Clarity Act can become law in 2026 remains a highly uncertain question.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.