The US CLARITY Act has reached a narrow legislative window. Senator Bill Hagerty said the bill will go before the Senate Banking Committee this week, but if it does not advance by the end of April, the proposal could lose its chance to reach the full Senate and fade before a floor vote ever happens.
Senate calendar leaves little room
The immediate problem is timing. Lawmakers have roughly two weeks before the Memorial Day break cuts into available working days, yet Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott has not set a markup date. Without that step, the bill remains stuck at committee level and there is still no firm sign of movement.
After the break, the political schedule becomes much harder. The report says the 2026 US midterm elections will begin to dominate the calendar, and by October many senators are expected to shift their attention toward campaigning. It also points to another risk: if Democrats retake both chambers in November, moving the bill later could become much more difficult. In that scenario, the current version may not survive.
Stablecoin yield dispute remains the main obstacle
A fight over stablecoin yield has delayed the bill for four months. The issue is whether platforms such as Coinbase should be allowed to offer interest-like rewards on stablecoin balances. Banks have pushed back hard, arguing that such products could pull funds out of traditional deposit accounts.
The Independent Community Bankers of America warned that small banks could face as much as $1.3 trillion in deposit losses. The article also says large banks spent about $56.7 million lobbying against the measure in 2025. A White House report challenged the banking industry’s position, saying that banning stablecoin yield would increase bank lending by only about $2.1 billion, or 0.02% of total US loans, while consumers would lose roughly $800 million each year.
Bill aims to replace court-driven crypto rules
For nearly 10 years, US crypto policy has largely been shaped through lawsuits and court rulings rather than a dedicated statute. The SEC sues projects, courts decide what counts as a security, and exchanges, developers, and investors operate without a clear line in many cases.
The CLARITY Act is designed to formalize the split between the SEC and the CFTC. According to the report, on March 17, 2026, the two agencies said in a joint report that Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, XRP, and Dogecoin are digital commodities. If the bill passes, that classification would be written into law and made harder to reverse later.
The next two weeks now matter most. The bill needs a scheduled markup, committee approval, and a path to the Senate floor in May. If that does not happen, the legislation may be pushed beyond the election period or dropped in its current form.