The Senate couldn’t get past a procedural vote on a significant cryptocurrency bill on Tuesday, despite considerable support from the industry.
The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act garnered a vote of 49 to 50, failing to reach the required 60 votes, mainly due to disagreements between Democrats and Republicans over an ethics provision. While the cryptocurrency sector pushed for the bill to establish a regulatory framework for digital assets, it met opposition from the banking industry.
Republican Senators Tim Scott, Cynthia Lummis, and John Boozman introduced the legislation after it cleared the House. However, Senators Josh Hawley, Jerry Moran, and Susan Collins voted against it alongside Democrats. Interestingly, Senator Thom Tillis from North Carolina changed his vote to “no,” allowing for a potential reconsideration of the legislation in the future.
Hawley expressed his intention to represent his constituents’ concerns about the bill’s impact on community banks. “I’m going to vote with my state on this,” he stated, noting that people in agriculture and local communities were expressing significant worries.
This legislation aimed to create the first comprehensive regulatory approach to the cryptocurrency market by dividing oversight responsibilities between the SEC and the CFTC. It included consumer protections meant to prevent platform failures and established guidelines for how cryptocurrencies could interface with traditional consumer assets like mortgages and loans.
Former President Donald Trump and most Republicans in Congress were in favor of the Clarity Act, which passed the House on July 17, 2025, with a vote of 294 to 134, without a single Republican dissent.
Democrats insisted on including an ethics provision to limit Trump’s ability to benefit from his family’s cryptocurrency ventures. While Republicans claimed to have made numerous changes to accommodate Democrats—like preventing top government officials from issuing or sponsoring digital assets—the Democratic response indicated that these adjustments fell short. They raised concerns that the updates could inhibit state attorneys general from suing the president and that certain ethics measures would still allow senior officials to maintain ties to cryptocurrency businesses.
The legislation had previously advanced out of the Senate Banking Committee in May, with some Democrats voting alongside Republicans, though they made it clear that their support wasn’t guaranteed on the Senate floor. Senator Ruben Gallego, having received funding from the crypto industry during his campaign, highlighted the support he received from the sector.
Notably, various banking entities, including JP Morgan Chase and the American Banking Association, opposed the bill. JP Morgan’s CEO, Jamie Dimon, criticized the legislation for its approach to stablecoin yields, commenting on the lack of adequate legal protections.
Throughout the 2026 election cycle, the cryptocurrency industry invested nearly $200 million to support candidates backing the Clarity Act, with substantial contributions from firms like Coinbase and Ripple Labs to pro-crypto PACs, which then engaged in campaigning on behalf of those candidates. According to a report, lobbying efforts from Coinbase reached over $1 million in the first quarter of 2026, targeting provisions of the Clarity Act specifically.
