The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, which will shape crypto regulation in the U.S. Senate, is close to losing its chance of passing in 2026. According to CoinDesk, the separate texts prepared by the Banking and Agriculture committees have been combined, and a new draft could arrive next week.
Ethics provision remains the sticking point
More than 70 pages of content have been added to the combined text, but the provision Democrats care about most is still unresolved: a restriction that would ban senior public officials, including the president, from having commercial ties with the crypto industry. Some senators have openly said they will not vote for the final text without an agreement on this issue. Proposals such as giving state attorneys general the authority to sue over ethics violations are on the table, but talks are not moving forward; they are almost standing still.
Legislative staff say most of the newly added material was written in response to Democratic objections, but the necessary Democratic support is still not there. The bill needs 60 votes to pass. Even the two Democratic senators who voted in favor in the Banking Committee said they would not support the final version unless their demands, especially on the ethics provision, are met.
White House criticizes appointment delays
On Thursday, the White House sent a letter to Thune and Schumer, saying Democrats had not yet proposed names for the minority seats at the SEC and CFTC. Last month, Democratic senators had sent a letter in the opposite direction, accusing the White House of deliberately leaving vacancies at independent agencies unfilled. The exchange of accusations suggests that a near-term agreement on appointments remains unlikely.
Wyden backs developers
The only positive news came from Oregon Senator Ron Wyden. In a letter to Senate leadership on Wednesday, Wyden said he supported the section of the bill that protects developers. This section, called the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, prevents developers who do not custody customer assets from being regulated like money transmission companies. The DeFi sector sees this provision as one of the most important gains in the negotiations.
The calendar is getting tighter
The Senate has three weeks left in July and one week in August. Procedural steps could consume much of that time, and the defense spending bill is also competing for space on the Senate agenda. Supporters believe the bill could reach the floor in the week of July 20 at the earliest, but issues such as the division of federal regulatory authority and SEC-CFTC appointments remain unresolved.
Even if the Senate passes the text, the process will not be over. The House of Representatives must approve its own version, which is already stuck due to disagreements among Republicans. The final stop is Trump’s desk. Considering that Trump refused to sign the bipartisan housing bill only because his demands on voting rules were not met, it would not be surprising if the Clarity Act faced a similar fate.
