The CLARITY Act, Washington’s biggest attempt yet to write clear rules for crypto markets, missed its shot at finalizing in a vote before the Senate’s August recess. Nevertheless, the initiative is still very much alive. U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has opened the first procedural steps needed to bring the bill to a vote in September.
Right now, it’s often unclear whether a digital asset falls under the Securities and Exchange Commission or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission policy framework jurisdiction. The CLARITY Act would settle that by giving the CFTC oversight of digital commodities and spot markets, while leaving securities-like tokens with the SEC. It would also apply Bank Secrecy Act anti-money-laundering rules to crypto exchanges. The Senate has opened the multi-stage process required to clear a 60-vote hurdle, keeping the bill alive for a September vote after missing its pre-recess window.
Thune said the chamber would hold off voting until senators return to Washington in mid-September, disappointing an industry that had hoped for passage before the break. Much of the holdup traces back to an unusual addition for a market-structure bill: an ethics provision addressing a sitting president’s personal crypto holdings.
According to Trump’s 2025 financial disclosure, he reported possessing at least $100 million in Bitcoin and Ethereum assets. Yet, the President’s crypto-related income is reportedly substantially larger than that portfolio, if his family’s crypto ventures are taken into account. In that case, Trump’s crypto profits are estimated to exceed $1 billion. U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren released a statement claiming that the new text of the bill has numerous loopholes which might enable regulation misuse, considering that the President has direct influence on crypto-related policy.
A revised version of the ethics section, written by a bipartisan pair of senators, has been sitting with the White House for review, and President Trump would likely need to sign off before the bill can move as a bipartisan package.
If Thune files for cloture before the Senate leaves town, the first procedural vote could happen as soon as Tuesday, September 15. If he files after the Senate returns, it would be no earlier than Wednesday, September 16. From there, the bill still needs to clear the standard 60-vote cloture threshold before a final passage vote — a high bar in a closely divided Senate heading into midterm campaign season.
For now, the CLARITY Act remains a bill with real momentum and a real deadline, but no guaranteed outcome. However, payments and fintech firms building on stablecoin and tokenization rails now at present or planning to do so in the future have an almost concrete date, mid-September, to watch for the regulatory certainty they need to scale crypto and blockchain payments initiatives.
