The Senate Banking Committee plans to hold its long-awaited markup hearing for the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025 (otherwise known as the Clarity Act) on Thursday, May 14 at 10:30 a.m.
The Clarity Act was largely in limbo after Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong announced that the exchange was withdrawing support for the stablecoin yield and other provisions in January. Last week, Senators Thom Tillis and Angela Alsobrooks released yield compromise text, which would prohibit crypto companies from offering yield on static stablecoin reserves, but allow rewards for stablecoins involved in the activities, apparently resolving one of the main issues blocking the bill’s progress.
The committee has not made the full text of the updated bill public at the time of publication.
Banking industry groups said they had problems with the compromise text and would provide feedback. A letter released Friday by several banking industry associations, including the American Bankers Association, the Bank Policy Institute, the Independent Community Bankers of America, the National Bankers Association and the Consumer Bankers Association, states that “additional work is needed to achieve language that embraces the innovation represented by digital assets while protecting consumers.”
The letter includes recommendations with specific changes to the text of the provision released last week.
Scheduling a markup hearing suggests lawmakers are prepared to move forward with the current version of the text, regardless of these concerns.
There are still other outstanding questions — Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a longtime champion of the crypto industry, told the Consensus Miami audience last week that the Clarity Act requires an ethics provision prohibiting high-ranking officials from profiting from the crypto industry while regulating it. His office reiterated that position in a press release Thursday, citing data from a CoinDesk-commissioned poll that found 73% of registered voters believe top government officials should not have business ties to the industry.
However, this issue may not be addressed in the Senate’s version of the banking bill; after the bank markup, the Senate will have to merge this version of the bill with the Senate Agriculture Committee’s version before the full Senate can vote to advance the bill.
