TL;DR:
- A coalition of over 100 crypto firms, led by the Crypto Council for Innovation, is pressing the Senate to advance the Clarity Act.
- Signatories include Coinbase, Ripple, Kraken, Andreessen Horowitz and Circle, who warn about the risk of losing jobs and investment to other jurisdictions.
- Senator Bernie Moreno stated that market structure legislation could be passed before the end of May, though the committee has not yet scheduled a markup.
A coalition of more than 100 companies and groups from the crypto industry in the United States sent a letter to the Senate Banking Committee demanding that a markup of the bill known as the Clarity Act be advanced — a regulation that would establish a federal framework for digital asset markets.
The letter is led by the Crypto Council for Innovation and the Blockchain Association, and is addressed to committee chair Senator Tim Scott, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Digital Assets Subcommittee Chair Cynthia Lummis, and Senator Ruben Gallego.
The letter identifies six priorities that Congress should address in the legislation: preserving consumer rewards tied to payment stablecoins, clearly defining the jurisdictions of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), protecting developers of non-custodial crypto tools, simplifying disclosure rules, establishing a uniform federal standard to prevent overlapping state regulations, and safeguarding providers of decentralized technologies.
Regulation by Enforcement Is Not Enough
The coalition warned that regulatory agency guidance alone cannot provide stable or lasting rules for the crypto industry. The letter explicitly flagged the risk of returning to an era of coercive enforcement-based regulation, referencing the legal actions pursued by the SEC and CFTC under the Joe Biden administration as a de facto mechanism for defining public policy.
“Acting quickly is critical,” the letter states, citing the risk that the absence of a comprehensive crypto regulatory framework in the United States could drive investment, jobs and technological development to other jurisdictions. The European Union already has a comprehensive regime for cryptocurrencies, which adds further pressure on the U.S. Congress.
Among the more than 100 signatories are Coinbase, Circle, Kraken, Ripple, Uniswap Labs, Andreessen Horowitz, Chainlink Labs, Chainalysis, OKX, Paradigm and Galaxy Digital, alongside advocacy groups and state blockchain associations.
The Senate Has Not Yet Set a Date
The Banking Committee has not scheduled a markup session. Nevertheless, Senator Bernie Moreno declared at a Washington event on Wednesday evening that he is confident the legislation will be completed before the end of May. Moreno also dismissed banks’ objections regarding stablecoin rewards, describing them as “a lot of noise,” though his office did not confirm whether the process could extend into the following month.
