As the much-awaited Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (CLARITY Act) is heading to the Senate for deliberation next, industry leaders are weighing in on the bill’s potential future. While many leading players remain optimistic about the market structure legislation’s imminent passage, some voice concerns about the market structure bill’s delay. Will the long-anticipated crypto bill clear the Senate soon?
What Lies Ahead for the CLARITY Act in the Senate?
Following the bipartisan Senators meeting on Tuesday, more industry leaders are sharing their comments on the future of the CLARITY Act. Galaxy Digital’s Head of Research, Alex Thorn, highlighted his pessimism about the market structure bill’s early passage. He wrote in an X post,
“Republicans are pushing for senate banking committee markup next thursday (jan 15). unclear if the two sides can come together and make that bipartisan as plenty of issues are still outstanding.”
Thorn highlighted that Democrats are still pushing for some amendments to the CLARITY Act. These include mandating DeFi front-ends to comply with sanctions and providing the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) with the power to take action against illegal activities.
Further, Thorn added that the market structure bill still faces certain hurdles as key issues remain unresolved. The areas he highlighted include the management of stablecoin yield, concerns surrounding ethics and conflict of interest, bipartisan strength for regulators, and more.
Notably, this Twitter post comes hot on the heels of Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott’s (R-SC) confirmation at next week’s meeting. As CoinGape reported, John Kennedy also stated that the Chairman will vote on the bill during next week’s CLARITY Act markup. Scott’s statement read,
“I think it’s important for us to get on the record and vote. So, next Thursday, we’ll have a vote on market structure. We have worked tirelessly for the last six plus months making sure that we had multiple drafts available to every member of the committee.”
Market Still Divided
Despite the Senate’s upcoming meeting and Jim Scott’s assertion, the market is still divided on the future of the CLARITY Act. Leading crypto figures have already expressed doubts about the odds of the bill becoming a law. For instance, Scott Johnsson, a general partner at Van Buren Capital, noted, “You have to push the markup hearing if it’s not bipartisan, if there’s any hope of a deal.” He added,
“Primaries don’t start until March, and even there, the outcome of market structure shouldn’t factor too heavily into 2026 election strategy. Every day that goes by makes a bad bill more likely, but preemptively forcing it post election is a bad bad idea.”
Another major voice raising concerns about the market structure bill was Salman Banaei, general counsel at Plume, who stated, “If markup is next week and the current state of the negotiations has yielded a GOP ‘closing offer’ to Senate Dems, I’d say prognosis is poor for a bipartisan vote.”
However, some remain optimistic and enthusiastic about the development. MetaLex founder Gabriel Shapiro believes that the US is about to “get a crypto market structure bill.” Despite growing concerns and confusion, he thinks that the Senate will soon pass the law.