Cryptocurrency: Basent urges Senate to restart the CLARITY Act

Besant puts CLARITY Act back at the heart of the U.S. encryption agenda

Treasury Secretary Scott Besant called on senators to remain at the negotiating table and move forward with the bill as soon as possible after returning to Washington. The Senate will resume work on September 14, with a procedural vote expected the next day (September 15). The bill aims to establish the first comprehensive federal regulatory framework for the U.S. crypto market structure.

Core Points

• Basent urged senators to continue negotiations on the CLARITY Act.
• The bill was passed by the Banking Committee in May this year with 15 votes in favor and 9 votes against.
• Banking, Democrats and the crypto industry still disagree on certain terms.

Besant promotes the restart of the CLARITY Act

Besant chose the critical moment of the end of Congress's recess. In a statement released Wednesday, he called on lawmakers to accept the motion, open the next stage of debate and continue the legislative process. He said failure would send a "troubling signal" to the outside world that the United States lacked the ability to maintain its digital asset leadership.

After months of negotiations, the bill has gone to the Senate. We have previously analyzed in detail that the probability of passing the CLARITY Act will decline with the tightening of the schedule before September. But the bill didn't start from scratch: On May 14, the Senate Banking Committee approved the bill by a 15 - 9 vote, and two Democrats joined Republicans in supporting it. The committee then sent it to the full Senate for review.

It needs to be clear that this does not mean that the CLARITY Act has been passed. The vote expected on September 15 is intended to allow the Senate to formally continue the review. After that, amendments need to be resolved, the necessary votes are obtained, and the legislative process is completed. Therefore, Besent called for accelerating the process.

stablecoins and conflicts of interest remain obstacles to negotiations

The CLARITY Act needs to clearly define which digital assets fall under the jurisdiction of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and which are more likely to be regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), as well as the rules that crypto intermediaries must follow. Although there is broad support in principle, details still pose challenges.

For example, the U.S. banking community is particularly opposed to certain forms of reward mechanisms associated with stablecoins. They worry that crypto platforms may provide benefits close to bank deposits without having to face the same regulatory constraints. Reuters reported that during the summer recess, the banking and digital asset industries stepped up their lobbying of senators.

In addition, Democrats are also calling for the addition of safeguards on anti-money laundering and political conflicts of interest. The differences existed in May, when two Democrats who supported the bill warned during the committee stage that their final vote was uncertain.

Despite this, one obstacle has recently been eliminated. On September 3, the National Sheriffs Association withdrew its objections and moved to a neutral stance. We noticed this change ten days before the September 15 vote.

However, this does not solve the banking industry's problems and does not meet the demands of Democrats. The probability forecast released by Galaxy remains sluggish: the probability of passing in 2026 is about 10%, compared with 75% on May 22. It should be noted that this is only an estimate and not an exact measure of the number of senators actually prepared to vote for the bill.

September 15 is a step rather than final passage

The CLARITY Act is critical to the industry as it attempts to replace some of the uncertainty of U.S. regulation with uniform federal rules. The Banking Commission noted that the bill aims to regulate the digital asset market, strengthen certain consumer protection measures, and clarify the regulatory treatment of different tokens. These goals stem from the text of the bill submitted to the Senate and do not predict the specific effect of its implementation.

Political stakes have also become clearer. Donald Trump supports the project. Crypto groups have increased interactions with senators throughout the summer. Reuters reported that the industry believes that the current timing is crucial before this midterm election and during the window period when Washington's political landscape may change.

Besent demonstrated his ambitions as early as June, when he was still hoping to make progress by late summer. Three months later, the bill was still in place. September 15 will not directly announce whether the United States has a new encryption law, but will first indicate whether enough senators agree to continue discussing the bill. For Basent, this is the first battle that currently needs to be won.