Senator Cynthia Lummis is urging lawmakers to advance the CLARITY Act as the Senate approaches a Sept. 15 procedural vote. She says Wyoming’s early digital-asset rules show that clearer regulation can support crypto businesses without forcing them outside the United States.
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Lummis made the argument in a post on X. The Wyoming Republican said her state created a legal framework for digital assets years before federal lawmakers began building a national market structure.
Her message focused on one issue: regulatory certainty. She said companies should know the rules before they launch products, raise money, or serve customers.
Why Does the Sept. 15 CLARITY Act Vote Matter?
The next real test for the proposed bill will be in the Senate on Sept. 15. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has placed cloture on the motion to proceed with the CLARITY Act bill.
The vote is expected at 2:15 p.m. ET. It will need 60 votes to advance to debate and amend the proposed bill.
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This will not be a vote for the passage of the bill but just a means of advancing the process of the legislation.
The House had passed the legislation in July 2025 on a vote of 294-134. The bill had received 78 Democratic votes along with the Republican vote. The Banking Committee of the Senate also cleared its part of the bill in May 2026 on a 15-9 vote.
The timing of the vote might prove significant after the cloture vote. The senators have limited time after returning from their August break before the midterm campaign starts to make time scarce for legislative work.
Any amendment done by the Senate also needs to get approval from the House before going to the President.
What Does Wyoming’s Crypto Model Bring to the Debate?
Lummis has employed Wyoming as an example of how legislators could pass laws that define the specifics of digital assets.
To date, Wyoming has passed over two dozen laws on blockchain and cryptocurrencies since 2018. Such laws introduced the definition of digital property in Wyoming and established new structures for business firms in the industry.
Moreover, Wyoming introduced special purpose depository institutions, known as SPDIs, which were created in order to offer financial services to digital asset enterprises under the supervision of the state.
The proposed federal law will not replicate the Wyoming approach word-for-word.
The Wyoming approach mostly deals with state banks and the rights of digital property, while the CLARITY Act addresses national trading regulations, disclosures, raising funds, and the split of regulatory responsibility.
Who Would Regulate Crypto Under the New Framework?
The bill introduces digital asset classifications that will be used by the federal government. Digital asset classification may be useful when determining which agency, the CFTC or SEC, will regulate the particular category.
The commodities that fall into the category of a digital asset will be regulated according to the spot market regulations of the CFTC. The SEC will regulate the digital assets that comply with the securities regulations.
Crypto exchanges and brokers and dealers of digital commodities will register in the federal registration regime.
Also, there will be certain disclosure requirements for some issuers of digital assets. This could include information regarding their business activity, token ownership, and governance of blockchain networks.
Furthermore, there is a control test used to determine the maturity level of the blockchain network. One of the criteria used in the test is that an individual or group of individuals controls 20% of the network or its assets.
How Would Customers and Developers Be Affected?
Protection for the customers, as well as some non-custodial developers, is provided in the legislation. Developers that publish and maintain software without having control of the customer funds will not have automatic responsibility for registration equal to centralized exchanges and brokers.
The legislators are still discussing where the protection stops. This discussion is about how to protect the open-source developers without making a general exemption from registration for businesses that control the transaction or any customer property.
The CLARITY Act also provides some protection for the customer property in case of bankruptcy.
Users holding digital assets may be considered as the customer’s property in the Chapter 7 bankruptcy proceeding and therefore not become part of the general estate of the failed business.
Legislation will also require the SEC and CFTC to develop detailed regulations after passing it. The role of the CFTC will become more significant since it has no statutory power over the digital commodity spot market at all.
However, as TronWeekly reported earlier, SEC Chairman Paul Atkins is in favor of Congress acting and has declared his desire to see the legislation being passed.
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