The Senate Banking Committee released the full 309-page draft of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act on Tuesday morning, giving members until Wednesday close of business to file amendments ahead of Thursday's 10:30 AM EST markup vote. The draft, the result of months of negotiations that nearly collapsed over stablecoin yield, ethics rules, and DeFi regulations, represents the most complete picture yet of U.S. crypto regulation if the bill passes.
Bitcoin and Ethereum Locked as Non-Securities
One of the biggest provisions permanently locks the regulatory status of major cryptocurrencies. Any token that served as the principal asset of a spot Exchange Traded Product as of January 1, 2026 is permanently treated as a non-security. That means Bitcoin, Ethereum, and any other asset that received spot ETP approval by year-end 2025 can never be reclassified as a security, regardless of future SEC or CFTC leadership changes. Legal certainty the industry has fought for years is now written directly into the legislation.
Staking Fully Protected
The draft carves out staking activity entirely from securities treatment. Four specific staking structures are explicitly classified as administrative or ministerial rather than investment activity: self-staking by token holders, self-custodial staking with a third-party node operator, liquid staking through receipt tokens, and custodial staking services provided by exchanges. Critically, the bill also states that governance rights attached to a token do not disqualify it from non-security treatment, addressing one of the industry's longest-running regulatory grey areas.
Banks Get Direct Access Without Prior Approval
Section 401 opens the door for traditional banks to enter digital assets without needing regulatory permission first. National banks, state banks, and credit unions are all permitted to offer the following services as incidental to normal banking business: custody of digital assets, staking services, lending against digital assets, payment processing, market making, and underwriting. No prior approval from regulators is required. For an industry that has watched banks turn away crypto clients for years due to regulatory uncertainty, this provision alone represents a structural shift in how digital assets integrate with the traditional financial system.
Stablecoin Yield Question Settled
Section 404 draws the clearest line yet on stablecoin rewards. Exchanges and platforms are prohibited from paying interest or yield simply for holding stablecoin balances. Any return economically equivalent to interest on a bank deposit is banned outright. However, activity-based rewards remain fully permitted: staking rewards, governance participation incentives, loyalty programmes, and rewards tied to actual platform usage are all allowed to continue. Existing exchange rewards programmes that pay passive yield on stablecoin balances will need to restructure. The compromise gives banks what they lobbied for—a ban on stablecoins functioning as interest-bearing deposits—while preserving activity-based reward structures that crypto platforms argued were fundamentally different from deposit interest.
What Happens Next
Committee members have until Wednesday close of business to submit amendments. Thursday's markup at 10:30 AM EST will determine whether the bill advances out of committee. If it clears that hurdle, the full Senate must still vote, and the Senate version must be reconciled with the House version before reaching President Trump's desk. The White House is targeting July 4 for the final signature. Thursday is the next critical checkpoint.