CLARITY Act Vote Hinges on Critical Ethics Talks For Democrat Support

Today's CLARITY Act news: Coinbase Global policy chief Faryar Shirzad said the CLARITY Act faces two potential outcomes ahead of the Senate's scheduled September 15 procedural vote.

The bill could fall just short of the 60 votes required for cloture, or a late bipartisan shift could provide enough support to clear the threshold. Shirzad made the assessment in a September 6 conversation with industry advocate Scott Melker.

Shirzad said the crypto industry has spent years building bipartisan support for comprehensive regulation. The upcoming vote will test whether that support can translate into the votes needed to advance the market-structure bill.

Crypto Regulation Background: How the Vote Math Got This Tight

Coinbase is not assuming that all 53 Senate Republicans will support the motion to proceed, according to Shirzad. Each Republican defection would increase the number of Democratic votes needed to clear the 60-vote cloture threshold.

Shirzad expects several remaining disputes, including provisions concerning decentralized finance and exchange rules, to be resolved before the vote. In his view, the larger risk involves ethics language concerning President Donald Trump's crypto interests. Senate Democrats have criticized the proposed ethics provisions as insufficient, while Republicans have argued that the legislation contains meaningful safeguards.