More than 100 crypto firms and trade groups urged US senators to accelerate work on the CLARITY Act, warning that further delays could leave American companies trailing overseas rivals and revive regulation through enforcement actions.
CLARITY Act, With Time Running Out for Senate Passage, Gets Industry Lobbying Push
23 April 2026 - 23:18 CEST
The push comes as the bill, one of the sector's most closely watched market-structure proposals, faces a narrowing path through Congress. The legislation passed the House of Representatives in July last year but has remained stalled in the Senate Banking Committee for more than 10 months.
The CLARITY Act would establish a broader federal framework for digital assets, including oversight responsibilities for US regulators and rules for crypto market participants.
Research from crypto exchange Galaxy Digital estimated there is now only a 50% chance the bill clears Congress and becomes law in 2026, and that's only if a mark-up is completed by mid-May. Beyond then, the chances of the bill's passage grow considerably worse, Galaxy said.
The warning was set out in a letter organized by the Crypto Council for Innovation and Blockchain Association, whose signatories included exchanges Coinbase and Kraken, as well as investment firms Andreessen Horowitz, Paradigm and Multicoin Capital.
"Timely action is critical, as other major jurisdictions have already implemented comprehensive frameworks, and the absence of comparable U.S. policy risks ceding both economic and strategic advantages." the letter said.
Industry risks lagging overseas peers
The United States, the world's largest economy by economic output, is notably one of the few major jurisdictions that does not have a dedicated regulator or licensing program for digital assets.
After the fall of crypto exchange FTX in 2022, digital asset firms in the country faced heightened scrutiny, carried along with enforcement actions from state and local regulators. According to the letter, the industry risks falling back into the same era of agency overreach without clear guidelines.
Senate hurdles remain
The CLARITY Act passed the House in July 2025 but has since become bogged down in Senate negotiations over several unresolved provisions. Disputes remain over stablecoin rewards, decentralized finance rules, protections for non-custodial software developers and ethics standards for officials holding crypto assets.
Traditional banks have become a core bloc of opposition, arguing some provisions in the bill could channel deposits into stablecoins and weaken a key source of funding for loans.
The CLARITY Act must first clear the Senate Banking Committee before moving to the floor, where it would likely need bipartisan backing to secure the 60 votes required to advance.
