$TRUMP Clarity Act Down to the Wire, The Last Chance for US Crypto Law?
The Senate procedural vote on September 15 could be the last chance to pass the Clarity Act for years at least according to a warning from Patrick Witt, Executive Director of the White House Digital Asset Advisory Council.
The Clarity Act is the first bill to establish a comprehensive regulatory framework for crypto in the US, clearly defining which tokens are securities (SEC-regulated) and which are commodities (CFTC-regulated). It passed the House 294-134 back in July 2025 and now needs 60 votes in the Senate to advance.
Key numbers:
Republicans hold 53 Senate seats they need at least 7 Democratic votes to reach the 60-vote threshold
The latest version has incorporated 114 Democratic amendments, running 630 pages
But per Politico, the bill still has no public support from any Democratic senator
Polymarket traders price the bill becoming law in 2026 at just 18%
This is a carefully calculated political gamble. Republicans have conceded a lot hundreds of pages of new regulations, expanded DeFi scope, stricter rules for "self-proclaimed decentralized" protocols. But there's one barrier they can't overcome: the ethics provision.
Democrats demand limits on Trump's and senior officials' ability to profit from crypto. This isn't a technical issue it's pure politics. Trump earned $1.4 billion from crypto last year, and Democrats don't want to create a crypto law without ethics guardrails for the very person who pushed it.
Witt put it bluntly: "Your concerns about ethics will not be addressed if this bill fails." He also revealed a fallback plan: if the Clarity Act dies, the administration will pivot to a "rulemaking" strategy letting the SEC and CFTC write regulations instead of waiting for Congress.
The September 15 vote isn't a vote to pass the bill it's just a procedural vote to open floor debate. But if it fails, the door could close until 2030, as Senator Cynthia Lummis has warned.
The Senate procedural vote on September 15 could be the last chance to pass the Clarity Act for years at least according to a warning from Patrick Witt, Executive Director of the White House Digital Asset Advisory Council.
The Clarity Act is the first bill to establish a comprehensive regulatory framework for crypto in the US, clearly defining which tokens are securities (SEC-regulated) and which are commodities (CFTC-regulated). It passed the House 294-134 back in July 2025 and now needs 60 votes in the Senate to advance.
Key numbers:
Republicans hold 53 Senate seats they need at least 7 Democratic votes to reach the 60-vote threshold
The latest version has incorporated 114 Democratic amendments, running 630 pages
But per Politico, the bill still has no public support from any Democratic senator
Polymarket traders price the bill becoming law in 2026 at just 18%
This is a carefully calculated political gamble. Republicans have conceded a lot hundreds of pages of new regulations, expanded DeFi scope, stricter rules for "self-proclaimed decentralized" protocols. But there's one barrier they can't overcome: the ethics provision.
Democrats demand limits on Trump's and senior officials' ability to profit from crypto. This isn't a technical issue it's pure politics. Trump earned $1.4 billion from crypto last year, and Democrats don't want to create a crypto law without ethics guardrails for the very person who pushed it.
Witt put it bluntly: "Your concerns about ethics will not be addressed if this bill fails." He also revealed a fallback plan: if the Clarity Act dies, the administration will pivot to a "rulemaking" strategy letting the SEC and CFTC write regulations instead of waiting for Congress.
The September 15 vote isn't a vote to pass the bill it's just a procedural vote to open floor debate. But if it fails, the door could close until 2030, as Senator Cynthia Lummis has warned.
