Political reports now suggest that roughly seven to 10 Democrats are prepared to back the CLARITY Act, potentially lifting the bill to the 60-vote threshold needed to advance contested legislation in the Senate.

That development matters because the bill had been stalled at around 51 "yes" votes, short of the cloture line. Additional Democratic support would push the count into the high 50s, with the upper end bringing passage within reach.

The shift comes after the House passed its own digital asset market structure bill, FIT21, in 2024, which increased pressure on the Senate to act. Meanwhile, the European Union has already implemented its MiCA framework for crypto regulation, leaving the United States without a comparable statutory regime for digital assets.

Crypto traders quickly treated the shift as a meaningful sign that Washington may finally move from debate to rulemaking.

What changed in the vote count

The CLARITY Act is designed to establish a clearer statutory line between digital assets treated as commodities and those treated as securities, while also clarifying the division of authority between the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission. That division has been contested for years, with both agencies asserting jurisdiction over tokens under frameworks not built for digital assets—the SEC relying on the Howey test, a securities-law standard derived from a 1946 Supreme Court case. Supporters say statutory clarity is a key step for large institutions to participate more comfortably in the market.

The Clarity Act is good for the country, good for consumers, and good for the people we represent on both sides of the aisle. After nearly 11 months of giving almost everything asked of us, I genuinely don't know what else my Democrat colleagues need before we act. pic.twitter.com/3dGD1z3l3R — Senator Cynthia Lummis (@SenLummis) July 29, 2026

The Clarity Act is good for the country, good for consumers, and good for the people we represent on both sides of the aisle. After nearly 11 months of giving almost everything asked of us, I genuinely don't know what else my Democrat colleagues need before we act. pic.twitter.com/3dGD1z3l3R

The bill was already eligible for floor consideration, but it had remained behind sanctions packages and nominations. Now, the votes appear to be moving into place.

Why XRP traders are watching

Market participants have focused on tokens that have spent years in regulatory uncertainty. XRP, in particular, has become a proxy for what clearer U.S. rules could unlock. The SEC's enforcement action against Ripple, filed in December 2020, alleged that XRP sales constituted unregistered securities offerings—a case that has shaped the token's market structure for more than five years. Traders are already pricing in the possibility of a more favorable environment for spot-market structures and institutional flows.

That narrative was given a small real-world data point this week: a Franklin Templeton-linked spot XRP ETF reportedly recorded $592,000 in net inflows on the day, while comparable products drew essentially nothing. Although the amount is modest, it has been read by some market observers as selective, compliance-minded positioning ahead of possible policy change.

The risk remains

Even with the improved vote math, timing is still uncertain. Senate leadership controls the calendar, and last-minute deal-breaking or reprioritization could still delay action.

Still, this is the clearest sign in weeks that U.S. crypto rulemaking could arrive sooner than skeptics expected, with potential effects on liquidity, listings and institutional appetite across the sector.

For once, the claim that Washington is moving again does not sound like pure hopium. The votes are aligning, and the clock is ticking.