From Pymnts · PYMNTS · · 1m 30s
Crypto bill hits its make-or-break vote
Three Republican senators rewrote the Clarity Act's ethics rules the day before the vote that decides its fate.
In brief
Three Republican senators rewrote the Clarity Act's ethics rules the day before the vote that decides its fate. The Clarity Act's survival now rests on whether 126 Democrat-requested changes, most of them about crypto conflicts of interest, are enough to win over the senators who threatened to block it. Originally…
A final draft lands
Sens. Cynthia Lummis, John Boozman and Tim Scott released the last version of the Clarity Act on Monday, Sept. 14, with new ethics language and protections against deposit flight.
One day to cloture
The timing is not an accident. A cloture vote set for Tuesday, Sept. 15 decides whether the bill moves to a final Senate vote or stalls out.
126 changes for Democrats
The draft folds in what sponsors call substantially all of the Tillis-Gallego ethics proposal, including letting state attorneys general enforce the law.
“This text is truly bipartisan and includes more than 120 of Democrats' demands.”
Trump's crypto restrictions
Democrats had said they would not back the bill without limits on officials profiting from crypto. Trump agreed to a meme coin ban; Tillis and Gallego pushed for a blind trust and forced divestment above a set value.
“President Trump voluntarily agreed to unprecedented ethics restrictions, holding every federally elected official, judge and their spouses to some of the toughest ethics restrictions in U.S. history.”
Treasury gets new power
The Secretary of the Treasury would gain authority to stop deposit flight tied to payment stablecoins, a direct answer to bank worries about money leaving the system.
Banks want more changes
The American Bankers Association, the ICBA and 77 state banking groups wrote to senators asking them to rework the rules on stablecoin interest, yield and rewards programs.
What matters most
The Clarity Act's survival now rests on whether 126 Democrat-requested changes, most of them about crypto conflicts of interest, are enough to win over the senators who threatened to block it.
