U.S. Senate Delays Crypto Clarity Act as It Prioritizes Other Bills

The U.S. Senate will move on to several other matters while lawmakers continue debating the details of the crypto Clarity Act, according to a schedule set by Majority Leader John Thune that first prioritizes nominations and a Russia sanctions bill.

The Clarity Act could still receive some preliminary Senate action next week, but that is the final week before the chamber begins its summer recess, which could push the bill’s next possible window to September.

For now, the Senate has set aside the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act as it advances separate legislation on Russian sanctions and federal nominations, further narrowing the runway for the industry’s central policy push in a crowded Senate calendar.

Thune began moving ahead with a package of nominees on Monday and was expected to turn to a Russia sanctions bill on Tuesday night, at which point the chamber would begin cloture proceedings. Senate rules and procedures require multiple steps and waiting periods before legislation typically reaches a final vote, and the chamber generally limits itself to one disputed bill at a time. As a result, it is unlikely the Senate can move on the Clarity Act until the other matters are resolved or expire, which could take days.

The Russia bill would impose sanctions on Russia’s leadership and tariffs on trading partners. It is now dedicated to the recently deceased senator who supported it, Lindsey Graham. Graham’s funeral this week will also occupy the Senate on Tuesday and Wednesday, with events in Washington and South Carolina.

As a result, Clarity is not expected to come up for a vote before next week, which would be the final days before the chamber’s summer break begins on Aug. 8. The market structure bill is not ready for a vote anyway, as the parties continue trying to reach a compromise on a contentious provision that has blocked a deal: the ban on senior government officials, including President Donald Trump, backing crypto projects.

Thune’s office told CoinDesk last week that his next floor-time priority would be the Russia legislation. Thune also said he hoped to get to Clarity before the break, but added that leadership would have to "see where the votes are."

At this stage in the Senate calendar, every hour of floor time is valuable, and debate over the Clarity Act has still not resolved several major outstanding issues — especially the section on government ethics, which was the focus of a Monday event hosted by Democrats opposing the Clarity Act and the president’s crypto activities.

Continued disagreement at this point could reduce the chances that Clarity becomes law in 2026 and add uncertainty to the timeline for U.S. crypto regulation. If the legislation stalls, the next main avenues for regulatory legitimacy would be the ongoing implementation of the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act and policy work at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

For the industry, the most immediate hope in the Senate may be to get the bill into the cloture process before lawmakers leave for recess, since that would at least keep the measure in active floor consideration rather than the backlog of unfinished business.

A similar version of the Clarity Act has already advanced in the House of Representatives, but the Senate has been the larger bottleneck for legislative progress. The bill was first stalled for months by debate between the crypto sector and bankers over the treatment of stablecoin yield. That dispute produced a compromise that limited stablecoin rewards programs to structures that would not resemble — or compete with — yield-bearing bank deposits. The focus then shifted to restrictions on crypto involvement by government officials.

Last week, that ethics section appeared to make progress after Trump agreed to accept a provision limiting his interactions with digital assets. White House officials described the proposal as historic and unprecedented ethics constraints, while Democrats said the restrictions did not go far enough to curb Trump’s crypto interests. Even so, both sides agreed to continue discussions.

The House and Senate will both return for a few weeks in September, but that marks the end of the available floor time before the November elections. After that, Congress will enter its lame-duck session, when defeated and retiring lawmakers serve out their final weeks before the next Congress begins in January. Lame-duck sessions can sometimes produce legislation through frantic dealmaking, but they can also be marked by political paralysis.

Even if the Clarity Act passes the Senate, it would still need another House vote, where recent Republican infighting has already slowed other initiatives. If it clears both chambers, the bill would go to Trump’s desk to be signed into law.

In recent weeks, the president has refused to sign an unrelated bipartisan housing bill, saying he will not approve legislation until lawmakers send him a bill requiring new voter-identification rules before the midterms. He has also publicly called for the Clarity Act to be completed, although it is unclear whether it would receive special treatment. In any case, if the president takes no action for 10 days after a bill is approved, it becomes law automatically.