BitMart has warned that the US Senate’s review of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025 could produce a very different law from the one that cleared the House with bipartisan backing. In a post on X, the exchange said the Senate Banking Committee is now handling a rewritten 309-page version of the bill that has been flooded with more than 100 amendments. Its argument is blunt: a bill meant to bring regulatory clarity could turn into a “Trojan horse” for DeFi.
Stablecoin yield restrictions are a major flashpoint
One of the sharpest disputes centers on yield for payment stablecoins. BitMart said traditional banks are lobbying hard to restrict or ban crypto platforms from offering interest or yield on these products, driven by concerns that deposits could leave the banking system. The latest draft tries to separate prohibited bank-like deposit interest from permitted activities such as staking and liquidity provision, but some lawmakers want tougher language.
BitMart specifically pointed to amendments from Senator Jack Reed that would mirror the tighter position backed by banks. In its view, rules of that kind would weaken the competitiveness of US crypto firms and could push capital toward shadow banking channels instead of keeping activity in better-defined domestic markets.
Developer protections face direct challenges
For DeFi, BitMart sees the biggest threat in efforts to strip protections tied to the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, or BRCA. That framework was folded into the CLARITY bill to make clear that software developers who do not control customer funds — including builders of non-custodial wallets, smart contracts, and DeFi protocols — should not be treated as money transmitters.
Several proposed changes would cut against that approach. According to the report, Senator Jack Reed has proposed removing BRCA’s developer protections altogether. Senator Andy Kim wants businesses earning significant revenue from DeFi platforms to set up anti-money laundering and sanctions compliance programs. Senator Elizabeth Warren has proposed giving the government authority to blacklist crypto platforms that facilitate more than one illicit transaction. BitMart argued that permissionless code and transparent on-chain execution do not fit a model that expects a protocol or its developers to act as transaction-by-transaction gatekeepers.
Political conflict over Trump family ties adds another layer
The bill is also being pulled into a wider fight over conflicts of interest in Washington. Democrats led by Elizabeth Warren want the legislation to include rules barring the president, senior government officials, and their immediate family members from owning, promoting, or being affiliated with digital asset businesses. The report linked that push to the Trump family’s recent efforts involving World Liberty Financial (WLF) and its bid for a banking charter.
That dispute has created a separate bottleneck for the bill. BitMart’s view is that a measure originally framed around market structure and innovation is now tied to a political battle over presidential business interests, making the final package harder to predict.
Odds of passage remain high, but the text matters most
BitMart cited Polymarket figures showing a 67% to 75% chance that the CLARITY Act passes before year-end. The exchange said those odds may reflect momentum more than substance. Its concern is not whether the bill advances, but what survives in the final version. If stablecoin yield is tightly constrained and protections for non-custodial developers are removed, BitMart argues the law could leave the US with a far more hostile setting for decentralized innovation than the industry expected.