The long-awaited CLARITY Act appears to be entering its final stretch, and senior administration officials say there’s still a pathway to passage — possibly on a very specific, symbolic date.
At CoinDesk’s Consensus conference in Miami, Patrick Witt, executive director of the President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets, outlined a compressed timeline aimed at getting the bill across the finish line. His target: July 4. “We’re targeting July 4th. I think that would be a tremendous birthday present for America, celebrating our 250th,” Witt said.
Planned timeline (per Witt)
- Banking Committee markup: this month
- Four working Senate weeks in June to complete floor passage
- Scheduling runway for a House vote before Independence Day
But the schedule depends on negotiators, lawmakers and stakeholders lining up behind the compromise text. After draft language emerged from the Senate Banking Committee last Friday, major banking trade groups — including the Bank Policy Institute, the American Bankers Association and the Independent Community Bankers of America — said the draft “falls short” of prohibiting the payment of yield and interest on stablecoins. Those groups told Crypto In America they plan to ramp up outreach to Senate Banking Committee members ahead of the markup.
Witt acknowledged the friction but argued the compromise struck the right balance on the controversial stablecoin-yield issue. “Crypto is unhappy, banks are unhappy, but they’re both about equally unhappy,” he said, adding that, in his view, the stablecoin-yield question is “closed.”
Still, other unresolved items could shift the timeline. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, also speaking at Consensus, warned the bill could be delayed unless new ethics language is added — specifically prohibiting U.S. officials, including the president, from holding ties to the crypto industry — along with other ethics-related and policy provisions now central to negotiations. If those issues are settled, Gillibrand said the CLARITY Act could reach the president’s desk by the first week of August — a later finish than Witt’s July 4 target.
Bottom line: negotiators are racing to reconcile competing demands from banks, crypto firms and lawmakers. With markup and key Senate weeks coming up, the next few days and weeks will likely determine whether the bill can meet the Independence Day milestone or slips into August.
Featured image created with OpenArt; chart from TradingView.com.
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