TechFlow News, March 18: According to DL News, Senator Tim Scott, Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, stated at the Washington Blockchain Summit that the Digital Asset Market Structure Act (the CLARITY Act) has made significant progress, with a new draft expected to be submitted for review this week.
The bill aims to establish a regulatory framework for the U.S. cryptocurrency market. It passed the House of Representatives with bipartisan support in July last year but has since stalled in the Senate. Key points of contention include: stablecoin yield rights (with banks pressuring lawmakers to prohibit crypto exchanges from paying interest on stablecoins held by users), ethics provisions regarding public officials holding or founding crypto enterprises, anti-money laundering (AML) mechanisms for decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols, and ensuring bipartisan representation among financial regulators. Former President Donald Trump has publicly backed the crypto industry and supports permitting stablecoin yields.
Representative Dusty Johnson warned that the window of opportunity is narrowing. Should Democrats regain control of Congress following the November midterm elections, the bill is highly likely to stall. He urged three to four Democratic senators on relevant Senate committees to overcome internal party resistance, while also calling on the crypto industry not to arbitrarily raise its demands during negotiations—lest the entire process suffer further delays.
