DeFi regulation

U.S. Senate

2026-09-11 10:43:45

Senate Republicans unveil revised Clarity Act with new DeFi registration framework before cloture vote

Senate Republicans released a revised 630-page Digital Asset Market Clarity Act on Thursday, four days before the bill faces its first procedural test on the Senate floor. The new draft, led by Sen. Cynthia Lummis, rewrites key sections on decentralized finance and credit unions while leaving untouched the ethics language that Democrats have tied to their support. One of the biggest changes is the creation of a category for "non-decentralized finance trading protocols," aimed at parties that retain control over a protocol or can materially change its functionality or consensus rules. Those protocols would be required to register with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, with the CFTC and the Treasury Department tasked with writing the implementing rules. The bill’s DeFi provisions are also narrowed to spot and cash digital commodity transactions. At the same time, banks are pressing for tighter language on a stablecoin yield ban, and Democratic resistance over conflicts of interest still threatens the bill’s path forward. A cloture vote on the motion to proceed is scheduled for Tuesday at 2:15 p.m. ET and will require 60 votes.

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Crypto Clarit

2026-09-10 20:23:59

Revised Crypto Clarity Act Circulates Ahead of Sept. 15 Senate Vote

A revised draft of the Crypto Clarity Act is now circulating in the U.S. Senate days before a scheduled Sept. 15 vote on the market structure bill. According to reporting cited by Bitcoin Magazine, the updated text adds new requirements for DeFi protocols that do not qualify as decentralized, including registration with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The draft also updates language covering how federal credit unions may use digital assets or distributed ledger systems in activities they are already authorized to perform. The bill is intended to divide oversight of digital assets among regulators and clarify which assets should be treated as securities, commodities, or stablecoins. Lawmakers had hoped to move the measure in August before a five-week recess, but the vote was delayed. Reporters said the bill still lacks bipartisan backing. The measure had passed the House last July but has stalled this year, with one key dispute centered on whether customers can receive yield on stablecoins. Separate ethics-related language circulating since July would bar government officials from promoting crypto or profiting from it, an issue Democrats have tied to criticism of the Trump family. President Donald Trump has urged lawmakers to pass the bill.

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Clarity Act

2026-09-11 04:43:59

Senate Republicans release revised Clarity Act before Sept. 15 vote requiring 60 senators

U.S. Senate Republicans released a revised version of the Clarity Act on Sept. 10, less than a week before a key procedural vote set for Sept. 15. According to Decrypt, the new draft unveiled by Senator Cynthia Lummis, chair of the Senate Banking Committee’s digital assets panel, runs 630 pages and revises provisions tied to decentralized finance and the role of credit unions in digital asset activity. The updated text would require crypto trading protocols that are only nominally decentralized, but still controlled by specific individuals or groups, to register with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. It also directs the CFTC and the U.S. Treasury Department to write rules for trading protocols that can be controlled or materially altered by an individual or group. CoinDesk reported that the bill now gives clearer guidance on when DeFi projects must register with the CFTC and comply with the Bank Secrecy Act. Lummis said on X that the revised draft narrows the DeFi language to spot and cash transactions in digital commodities and excludes prediction markets. She also said the text includes more than 114 provisions requested by Democrats. Even so, Decrypt, citing Politico, said no Democratic senator currently supports the revised bill. The Sept. 15 procedural motion needs 60 votes to advance.

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Clarity Act

2026-08-06 12:33:46

Blockchain Association CEO Mersinger Hits Back at WSJ Over Clarity Act Misreading

Blockchain Association CEO Summer Mersinger, a former CFTC commissioner, published a response to an August 4 Wall Street Journal editorial accusing the paper of fundamentally misreading the Clarity Act. She says the bill explicitly prohibits stablecoin issuers from offering holding rewards equivalent to bank deposit interest, while allowing reward mechanisms similar to credit card points or user-behavior-based incentives. On DeFi, she argues that Section 10301, which directs the SEC to craft rules for protocols that are nominally decentralized but effectively controlled, does not amount to a regulatory exemption, and that Section 10201 extends full Bank Secrecy Act reporting obligations to digital commodity brokers while allocating $3 billion for state-level enforcement. That, she says, contradicts the Journal's claim that the bill fails to address illicit finance. Addressing concerns about a shadow market for tokenized securities, Mersinger points to Section 10505, which keeps securities under SEC oversight after they settle on a blockchain. She concludes the Journal is effectively defending the monopoly of traditional financial institutions, a position that conflicts with the paper's own free-market principles.

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Blockchain As

2026-08-03 21:59:24

Blockchain Association pushes back on sheriffs group’s criticism of the Clarity Act

Blockchain Association has sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer challenging recent criticism of the Clarity Act from the National Sheriffs’ Association. The crypto industry group said the sheriffs association misunderstood how the bill approaches decentralized finance regulation. The National Sheriffs’ Association had warned Senate leaders last week that the legislation creates overly broad exemptions for DeFi in anti-money laundering, sanctions compliance, and know-your-customer rules, and said that could make it harder for law enforcement to combat financial crime. Blockchain Association rejected that characterization, saying the bill does not grant the crypto industry a blanket exemption. Instead, it argued, the measure imposes strict obligations on intermediaries and gives law enforcement tools to pursue financial crime. Chief Policy Officer Lindsay Fraser said that, with a Senate vote approaching, it was necessary to correct what the group described as misconceptions surrounding the legislation.

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CLARITY Act

2026-07-24 08:30:16

CLARITY Act Negotiations Heat Up: Stablecoin Yield Becomes Key Battleground in Senate

U.S. Senate talks on the CLARITY Act intensify, with stablecoin yield, DeFi rules, and the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act at the center. Lobbying groups ramp up pressure as a tight legislative window narrows.

250

HYPE

2026-07-23 15:30:16

HYPE Enters Bitwise 10 ETF as Hyperliquid and Phantom Push CFTC for DeFi Rules

HYPE joins Bitwise 10 Crypto Index ETF at 0.95% weight, backed by $1.34T H1 volume. Hyperliquid and Phantom file joint CFTC letter seeking regulatory clarity for onchain derivatives. Token buybacks absorb supply pressure.

1940

Hyperliquid

2026-07-23 14:20:15

Hyperliquid Launches D.C. Policy Center with $28M in HYPE Tokens to Shape DeFi Rules

Hyperliquid launches a D.C.-based policy center with 1M HYPE ($28M) to push for clearer DeFi regulation, focusing on perpetual derivatives. The team includes former Sullivan & Cromwell and Variant policy staff.

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