The CLARITY Act may be delayed, as Senate Majority Leader John Thune said that it is unlikely for the Senate to consider digital asset market structure bills before April. He announced this this week after the chamber scheduled its next legislative priority as the SAVE America Act, a voter registration bill.
According to Punchbowl News, on Thursday, Thune told reporters that the Senate intends to vote on the SAVE America Act first. This act requires voters to show evidence of citizenship in person when registering. This, according to Thune, will happen next week.
CLARITY Act Faces Banking Delay Until April
After that, Thune said that there would be a shift in focus. According to him, they would be working on the crypto market structure package and other bills. He added that there would be Banking Committee action on market structure, but not before April.
Thune’s announcement is not in line with Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno’s goal in February. Moreno said that he hopes that Congress will pass the market structure legislation in April.
The Senate’s agriculture committee has already passed its version. The Banking Committee, on the other hand, has postponed the January markup that was required in order to pass the legislation and vote on it.
The plan was passed in July in the House under the name CLARITY Act. It is expected that the CLARITY Act would give the Commodity Futures Trading Commission more power over digital assets.
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Some lawmakers in the Senate have complained about certain provisions of the CLARITY Act. These provisions have raised complaints regarding tokenized equities, ethics language, and stablecoin yield.
CBDC Ban Added as CLARITY Act Talks Stall
On Thursday, the Senate voted on a plan to add a ban on CBDCs in a housing bill. It was attached to the 21st Century Road to Housing Act. It would prohibit the Federal Reserve from issuing a CBDC. If the plan passes, it would be in effect until December 2030.
The CBDC ban was proposed in the Senate as an amendment. It would prohibit the Federal Reserve from issuing a digital dollar.
Last week, President Donald Trump entered the debate regarding CBDCs. He used social media to complain about banks holding the CLARITY Act “hostage.”
Source: TruthSocial
The White House has had three meetings with crypto and banking industry representatives. It was not known as of Thursday whether an agreement would be reached to let the CLARITY Act move forward.
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