CLARITY Act Update Leaves Ethics and Stablecoin Yield Fight Open

Key Insights

• CLARITY Act update retained disputed ethics and stablecoin yield provisions.
• Revised text added rules covering non-decentralized finance trading protocols.
• Senate cloture vote remains scheduled for Sept. 15.

Senate Republicans released a new CLARITY Act update before the legislation’s Sept. 15 procedural test. The 630-page draft revised decentralized-finance and credit-union provisions while retaining disputed ethics and stablecoin-yield sections. Those unresolved issues could determine whether supporters assemble enough votes to move the crypto bill forward.

The Senate is not scheduled to vote on final passage Sept. 15. Instead, cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 3633 will ripen at 2:15 p.m. ET. A successful vote would limit debate on taking up the bill and allow the Senate to move toward formal consideration.

CLARITY Act Update Revises DeFi and Credit Union Rules

The revised Senate text expanded its decentralized finance framework. It defined non-decentralized finance protocols partly through identifiable parties’ control over rules or usage. The bill also directed the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to adopt tailored rules for covered protocols.

That approach moved some decentralized finance activity closer to intermediary-style regulation. The text required regulators to clarify compliance duties for persons controlling covered protocols. It also preserved separate treatment for decentralized governance systems and incident-response councils.