U.S. Senate crypto bill faces uncertainty as Lummis says Democrats seek more changes

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Senate crypto bill faces uncertainty

Highlights

Senate Republicans circulated a final version of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, but Democrats continue to demand more changes before Tuesday's vote.
The negotiations have involved 114 policy concessions, including a politically sensitive provision on officials' business ties with crypto and a key DeFi legal protections compromise.
Passage odds for the crypto market structure bill remain narrow as securing the required 60 Senate votes on Tuesday appears uncertain, impacting near-term U.S. crypto regulation prospects.

Senate vote nears on final compromise

As reported by CoinDesk, Lummis said at a Washington event on Monday that Democrats remain dissatisfied with the final version of the crypto market structure bill circulated by Senate Republicans over the weekend. The Wyoming Republican, one of the lead sponsors of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, described the proposal as the furthest Republicans are willing to go.

Speaking at a summit hosted by the Solana Policy Institute, Lummis said Democrats are continuing to push for additional revisions despite what Republicans presented as a final compromise. She said the negotiation has already involved 114 individual policy concessions and argued that extending talks would only produce more demands.

Lummis also pointed to a politically sensitive provision that would limit government officials' ability to maintain personal business ties with the crypto industry, a section aimed mainly at President Donald Trump. She said she had made a significant personal concession in the latest draft on legal protections for decentralized finance, or DeFi, developers.

Passage odds remain narrow

Lummis said she does not know whether the measure can secure the 60 votes required to move forward in the Senate on Tuesday. Lobbyists attending the industry gathering were also treating the chances of passage as tight, even among the more optimistic voices.

As Democratic lawmakers met to discuss the latest text, attendees at the Washington event waited for signs of whether further progress was possible. After returning from Wyoming, Lummis said she asked her staff for an update and was told Democrats were still seeking new changes.

She urged Democrats to accept the legislation in its current form, saying the bill is "as good as it's going to get" and adding that her "tank is empty." The comments underscore how the outcome of Tuesday's vote could shape the near-term outlook for crypto market structure legislation in the U.S.

In our earlier coverage of the Clarity Act debate ahead of the Senate’s key procedural vote, we noted Democrats’ objections that the bill’s revised ethics language still leaves room for conflicts involving senior officials and could allow President Donald Trump to benefit from crypto-related business ties. The update also outlined how the latest draft sought to tighten enforcement—such as giving state attorneys general added powers—while underscoring that the ethics provisions remained a central sticking point as the vote approached.

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