U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urges Senate to vote immediately on crypto market structure bill (Clarity Act), citing Democratic delays.
Regulation & Gov ·
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pushed the Senate to hold an immediate vote on the Clarity Act, a digital asset regulatory framework, saying Democrats were blocking the legislation for political advantage. In a post on X, he noted that the House had approved the bill over a year prior and that Senate Banking and Agriculture Committee staff had invested "thousands of hours" in bipartisan negotiations on revisions, with Republicans now holding a version ready for floor consideration. Bessent warned that failing to pass the measure risked ceding American leadership in digital assets to other nations.
Bessent contended that the bill's Titles II and III would substantially strengthen compliance obligations for digital asset intermediaries, bringing them nearer to traditional financial institution standards and bolstering consumer safeguards. He also defended the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, a component within the broader Clarity Act that shields decentralized software developers from Bank Secrecy Act registration rules, and cited recent support from the Fraternal Order of Police, which had previously opposed the provision. According to Decrypt, the secretary concluded his appeal by citing a well-known statement attributed to Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto.
The Senate's path forward on the measure remains unclear. Bessent attributed Democratic resistance partly to concerns about backlash from Senator Elizabeth Warren and her opposition coalition, though no formal Senate vote has been scheduled and the procedural obstacles to passage have not been detailed.