The <i>CLARITY Act</i> has entered the full Senate session for consideration, with the Ethical Guidelines clause posing the biggest point of contention.
BlockBeats News, May 15th. The U.S. Senate Banking Committee passed the "CLARITY Act" on May 14th, and the bill is now set to be considered by the full Senate. The voting results mostly followed party lines – all 13 Republican members voted in favor, while among the 11 Democratic members, only Ruben Gallego and Angela Alsobrooks voted yes. Committee Chairman Tim Scott characterized this vote as a "success of bipartisan cooperation," but Democratic Senator Jack Reed countered, stating that Republicans summarily dismissed Democratic concerns – including issues related to cryptocurrency-enabled crime and the president's potential personal gains from cryptocurrency projects. The Democratic minority subsequently issued a statement pointing out that the current version failed to adopt global anti-money laundering standards, exempted DeFi protocols from financial regulation, and did not address regulatory loopholes in cryptocurrency mixing services.
In order for the Senate to pass the "CLARITY Act," Republicans would need to secure 60 votes, requiring at least 7 Democratic members to cross party lines. Tim Scott had previously claimed that there were 12 Democrats open to the market structure bill, but with the current heightened partisan divide, the viability of this assessment remains uncertain. The core group of progressive lawmakers in Congress has announced their opposition to any legislation that could potentially allow the Trump family to profit through cryptocurrency.
The debate over ethical clauses has also extended to the issue of stablecoin yields. The committee's final version prohibits stablecoin payments from bearing interest, aligning with the banking industry's position; however, it still allows crypto platforms to offer rewards based on usage behavior. Anonymous trader 10 Delta commented that the "ban" on yields is just a "token gesture," merely a victory for banks to showcase, with limited substantive impact. The crypto industry, overall, has expressed optimism regarding the outcome of this committee review. Alexander Lorenzo, Founder of CoinPicks Capital, pointed out that after the "GENIUS Act" was passed through the same process last July, Bitcoin hit a historic high of $123,000 within weeks; whereas the "CLARITY Act" has a broader scope, covering the entire crypto market rather than just stablecoins.
