U.S. Senate unveils new version of CLARITY Act

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New version of CLARITY Act

Officials will have to divest crypto assets

According to Lummis, the final version of the bill includes 126 changes requested by Democrats over the past year.

The revised ethics provisions would allow state attorneys general to enforce bans on federal officials issuing or promoting digital assets, as well as holding significant financial interests in such assets. Crypto exchanges would also be prohibited from listing assets issued in violation of these requirements.

Officials covered by the law would have to sell the relevant assets or place them in a qualified blind trust. Violations would carry a civil penalty of $500,000 or 20% of the amount involved in the prohibited transaction, whichever is greater.

The new rules would take effect 360 days after the law comes into force. If the necessary implementing regulations are finalized earlier, the restrictions could also take effect sooner.

What else changed in the bill

Separate amendments concern rewards paid to stablecoin holders. The U.S. Treasury Secretary would be required to introduce restrictions if such products are found to be causing substantial deposit outflows from community and smaller banks. This authority would expire 18 months after the law takes effect.

The revised Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act also preserves a provision stating that blockchain software developers cannot automatically be treated as money transmitters or financial institutions under the Bank Secrecy Act. This protection would now also be extended to miners and validators, who were previously excluded from these provisions.

In addition, references to Section 1960 of Title 18 of the U.S. Code, which governs penalties for operating an unlicensed money transmitting business, have been removed from the bill.

The legislation also strengthens requirements covering affiliate trading and conflicts of interest at digital commodity exchanges, brokers and dealers. It also clarifies how existing consumer protection laws would apply to the cryptocurrency market.

The chances of the CLARITY Act passing in 2026 remain relatively low. However, on Monday, Polymarket put the probability of its passage at 35%, the highest level since late July.

Why the CLARITY Act matters

The CLARITY Act is intended to establish a unified regulatory framework for the digital asset market in the U.S. and clearly divide responsibilities between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Crypto companies currently often face uncertainty over which tokens are considered securities and which are classified as digital commodities.

For the crypto industry, the passage of the CLARITY Act could become one of the biggest regulatory changes in the U.S. in recent years. The law is expected to reduce legal uncertainty for companies while strengthening investor protections, transparency requirements and measures against market manipulation and illegal activity. Supporters of the initiative also expect clearer rules to allow crypto companies to develop their businesses in the U.S. rather than move operations to other jurisdictions.

As a reminder, Senate Republicans introduced amendments to the CLARITY Act at the end of last week.

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