Crypto Clarity Act barrels toward disappointment barring last-minute Senate turnaround

At an industry event in Washington on Monday, White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt said that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission both have "robust" regulatory agendas set for crypto rules.

"They've got a job to do one way or the other," he said. "There's still good news coming for the industry."

However, even SEC Chair Paul Atkins has routinely acknowledged that his agency’s rules need the backing of law to be permanent. And the powers of the CFTC have a gaping hole when it comes to direct regulation of the crypto commodity spot markets — such as the trading of bitcoin BTC$76,541.38 and Ethereum's ether ETH$2,428.15.

It's possible that even Senate lawmakers who oppose the latest version of the Clarity Act could choose to vote yes to keep the process advancing. The Senate's customary approach to approving bills, known as cloture, is a multi-stage process in which the first vote technically opens debate on legislation and allows for an amendment process. So an approval vote in the first test doesn't always mean a bill is destined for success.

Also, despite the focus of Republican negotiators on Democratic opposition, the Republicans have had a number of their own members say they won't support Clarity if the banks remain fearful that stablecoin rewards programs could threaten their base of interest-bearing deposits. The banking industry, for its part, made clear on Monday that the final Republican version of the bill hadn't solved its concerns. That position leaves some uncertainty over whether the GOP would have its own problems mustering support for Clarity.