- 630 pages, 114 amendments. Sen. Cynthia Lummis unveiled a substantially revised CLARITY Act text on September 10 that incorporates more than 114 provisions requested by Democrats — a concession package designed to reach the 60-vote threshold needed for a September 15 cloture motion.
- DeFi gets rules. The bill would require non-decentralised finance protocols to register with the CFTC and comply with the Bank Secrecy Act’s anti-money-laundering provisions, narrowing the DeFi scope to spot and cash digital commodity transactions.
- Ethics unresolved. Democrats continue to demand that federal elected officials divest digital asset holdings or place them in blind trusts — an ethics provision the White House opposes, leaving the biggest obstacle to the seven Democratic votes Republicans need intact.
What Changed
Senator Cynthia Lummis released the revised Digital Asset Market Clarity Act text on September 10, four days before the Senate returns from recess ahead of a procedural cloture vote scheduled for September 15. The 630-page document incorporates more than 114 Democratic amendment requests, according to Lummis, and introduces three structural changes from the July draft.
Non-DeFi trading protocols that are “decentralised in name only” must now register with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and comply with the Bank Secrecy Act. DeFi provisions were narrowed to cover only spot and cash digital commodity transactions, a change aimed at easing concerns from tribal governments over prediction markets on blockchains. Federal credit unions received clearer explicit authority to conduct digital asset activities, resolving an ambiguity that banking-sector credit unions had flagged in earlier comment rounds.
The Vote Math
Republicans hold 53 Senate seats. The September 15 cloture motion requires 60 votes, meaning the bill needs at least seven Democratic crossovers. At least two Republicans are expected to vote against cloture, tightening the math further. Several Democrats have stated publicly they will not advance the bill without stronger ethics language targeting officials who sponsor or hold digital assets — a direct reference to Trump-aligned token activity that the White House opposes restricting.
White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt urged passage despite the open disputes, telling industry stakeholders: “Get on the bill and let’s keep talking” — framing floor amendments as the vehicle for resolving remaining disagreements if cloture succeeds. The National Sheriffs’ Association dropped its opposition after discussions with Witt, leaving no major law enforcement organisation publicly opposed to the bill.
What Passes with the Bill
If the CLARITY Act advances, it would provide federal statutory regulation of the cryptocurrency industry for the first time, establishing which digital assets fall under SEC versus CFTC jurisdiction based on whether they function as securities or commodities. SEC Chair Paul Atkins has said his agency’s Regulation Crypto proposal is being designed to align with the bill, signalling regulatory continuity if the legislation passes. The bill builds on Trump’s earlier endorsement of the CLARITY framework at a White House crypto event earlier in the year, as covered in the initial market reaction to that announcement.
The September 15 vote is procedural only. Even if cloture succeeds, the bill would then move to a floor debate phase where the outstanding ethics provisions and stablecoin yield rules could be addressed through amendments. Senator Lummis has described the bill as providing “a lasting solution that shields [the crypto industry] from the whiplash of changes in the White House,” but the durability of that protection depends on whether enough Democrats conclude the concessions already on the table outweigh the ethics language they are still seeking. The Block reported the revisions in detail on September 10.