Congress returned from its Easter recess with renewed optimism that negotiators were closing in on the remaining sticking points in the CLARITY Act — but a new wrinkle has shifted the spotlight to timing.
The Senate Banking Committee’s markup of the bill now appears to be delayed until the final week of April or possibly mid‑May. Chair Tim Scott’s committee schedule for next week notably omitted any markup date, triggering a flurry of social‑media speculation that the CLARITY Act could stall or even “die” if it doesn’t reach a vote by month’s end.
That doomsday narrative may be premature. Justin Slaughter, vice president of regulatory affairs at Paradigm, pushed back on the sense of an imminent deadline, saying the real timing pressure won’t begin until after Memorial Day — which, he argued, leaves roughly six to seven weeks for the bill to move out of committee and onto the Senate floor.
Insiders say the bill is still being polished. Reporting from Eleanor Terrett of Crypto In America indicates committee members and staff are still hammering out language, with ethics provisions and tokenization among the unresolved areas. Terrett’s reporting also suggests that some of the most politically fraught topics — including DeFi and, to an extent, stablecoin yield — have largely been handled, meaning the current bottlenecks may be more technical than existential.
Senator Thom Tillis said Monday he expects to release text describing the stablecoin yield compromise reached between banks and crypto firms “sometime this week,” though Crypto In America cautioned that the timing could slip depending on when the markup is scheduled. Stablecoin yield has been one of the bill’s thorniest issues since January, but several sources — and industry figures — say the dispute is nearing resolution.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse framed May as the month to watch, telling reporters compromise often comes when negotiators “are at their peak frustration,” and asserting, “I think we’re there.” White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt also said on April 13 that talks have produced meaningful progress on issues beyond stablecoin yield.
Bottom line: the CLARITY Act still appears alive, but its next moves hinge on two near‑term items — the release and acceptance of the stablecoin yield text, and the scheduling of the Senate Banking Committee markup. Watch for Senator Tillis’s promised language and any updated committee calendar in the coming days.
Image credit: OpenArt. Chart: TradingView.com.
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