CLARITY Act Senate Markup Pushed to May as Banking Disputes Persist
Senate progress on the CLARITY Act has stalled after Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina formally advised Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott to delay the markup until May, citing unresolved disagreements between banking institutions and crypto industry representatives. The bill, which passed the House in July 2025 by a 294 to 134 bipartisan margin, has yet to receive a committee hearing date in the Senate. The delay is structurally consequential: several procedural steps remain between a committee markup and a presidential signature, and the available working calendar is shrinking rapidly.
Stablecoin Yield Provisions Remain the Central Obstacle
Tillis, who has been mediating between banking and crypto factions, told reporters Monday that he does not expect an April markup and has communicated that position directly to Scott. His stated rationale reflects a deliberate pace rather than outright opposition: “It’s very important to me not to accelerate things, to hear everybody, and give them a rational basis for what we do accept.” The stablecoin yield dispute between banks and the White House has been the most durable point of friction, though a White House analysis reportedly estimated the lending displacement impact at just 0.02 percent, a figure the banking lobby has contested. Contentious issues across the broader bill have reportedly narrowed from more than a dozen to two or three, suggesting that overall momentum is intact even if the yield question remains open.
Bitcoin BTC$62,243.00▲1.35%
Ethereum ETH$1,648.20▲0.29%
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BNB BNB$593.66▲0.84%
USDC USDC$0.9999▲0.01%
XRP XRP$1.12▼1.13%
Solana SOL$65.02▲0.17%
TRON TRX$0.3221▲0.19%
Figure Heloc FIGR_HELOC$1.03▲0.49%
Dogecoin DOGE$0.0845▼0.46%Calendar Pressure Sharpens the Stakes
The structural problem is one of arithmetic. Justin Slaughter of Paradigm has stated publicly that the committee must complete its markup by mid-May to secure a floor vote before Memorial Day. After that recess, the Senate schedule contracts sharply, with non-legislative periods running from August 10 through September 11 and again from October 5 through the November midterm election. Senator Moreno has warned that campaign politics will effectively bury the bill if it misses the May window, and Senator Lummis has suggested a failed cycle could push the next viable opportunity to 2030. Even a successful May markup would still require a 60-vote Senate floor threshold, two reconciliation rounds, and a presidential signature, each of which demands calendar space that does not yet exist.
Institutional interest in the legislation is concrete rather than speculative. BlackRock, Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan have each indicated they are waiting on regulatory clarity before expanding crypto exposure, and Treasury Secretary Bessent published a Wall Street Journal op-ed calling for passage. The Digital Chamber has separately pressed Senate leadership to accelerate, arguing that further delay weakens Washington’s credibility on digital asset oversight at a moment when projects continue to incorporate in Singapore, Dubai, and London. As reported by The Block, pressure to schedule the markup is intensifying across both industry and government channels. The probability of passage this session remains real but is now contingent on Tillis and Scott reaching agreement on the yield provisions within weeks, not months. That is a narrow margin, and the historical record of complex financial legislation suggests that windows of this kind do not reopen on demand.
