Senate Democrats harden opposition to the CLARITY Act

Senate Democrats intensified their opposition to the CLARITY Act this week. The stated objection concerns ethics provisions, specifically conflict-of-interest disclosure requirements for elected officials holding digital assets.

The bill runs 616 pages. It would divide SEC and CFTC jurisdiction over digital assets, provide protections for open-source developers, and establish unified consumer safeguards across the sector.

Republicans have released the full text, and bipartisan agreement on the ethics language remains the outstanding hurdle to passage. The bill had already missed an attempted pre-July 4 timeline.

It is the most substantial market structure legislation to reach this stage, having been unveiled by the Senate Banking Committee in May.

The dispute is procedural rather than substantive. The regulatory architecture has largely survived negotiation, while the obstacle concerns disclosure rules applying to legislators themselves.