CumberlandThe U.S. Senate won't go on its August recess just yet but it will not vote on the Clarity Act this month, dimming hopes that the bill can become law this year.
Senate won't vote on crypto Clarity Act before its summer break
The U.S. Senate won't go on its August recess just yet but it will not vote on the Clarity Act this month, dimming hopes that the bill can become law this year.
The U.S. Senate will not vote on the crypto market structure bill before it breaks for the rest of the month, but industry leaders still hope for a vote in September, when the Senate returns to Washington, D.C., multiple individuals following the legislation told CoinDesk.
The crypto industry hoped that the Senate would stay in session for a few more days to resolve outstanding issues, including the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, but Senators from both parties had major unresolved issues on the legislation. The Senate will return to D.C. on Sept. 14, 2026, and will have three weeks to work on this and other outstanding issues then.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune confirmed in a statement through a spokesperson that there would not be a vote on Clarity in August, but that there would be one next month.
"The Dems are insistent on no Clarity vote... I worked with sponsors of the bill. [Senator Cynthia Lummis] was great, and we’re getting that queued up first thing when we come back," the statement posted on social media said.
The Senate will hold votes on a continuing resolution to fund the federal government through the midterm election; a Russia sanctions bill championed by and now named after Senator Lindsey Graham and a group of nominations on Friday morning, the last day before it is scheduled to leave.
Politico first reported late Thursday that the Senate did not expect to hold a first vote on Clarity before the recess.
In a statement shared with CoinDesk, crypto trade group Digital Chamber CEO Cody Carbone said, "while this isn’t the result any of us hoped for when we began the week, the fight is far from over. The next few weeks we will continue to work to find the last pieces of common ground needed to set up a successful vote when Congress returns in September."
The Clarity Act got bogged down alongside a number of other issues the Senate is currently facing, including a continuing resolution to fund the federal government, a Russian sanctions bill, a block of nominations and the individual nomination of Todd Blanche for attorney general. Senate Majority Leader John Thune announced late Thursday that the Senate would proceed to votes on the first three of those on Friday at 10:00 a.m. (as well as an amendment vote for the sanctions bill), suggesting he had time agreements — agreements to limit how long debate would last on each — for those votes.
The Clarity Act did not have any time agreement, individuals following the bill told CoinDesk earlier Thursday.
To be successful, the bill would need 60 votes in favor. It's unclear if it even has 50 votes as of press time, with multiple Republican senators publicly announcing their opposition and Democrats continuing to call for President Donald Trump to agree to a stricter ethics provision than exists in the bill today.
But many of the issues holding the bill up are now political, rather than strictly about the language in the legislation.
Lawmakers have come to agreements on the vast majority of their outstanding issues on the bill, which saw independent approvals from the Senate Banking Committee and Agriculture Committee. The biggest remaining issue was an agreement on a so-called ethics provision targeting Trump, who disclosed he made north of $1 billion from his various crypto businesses in 2025.
While Trump had agreed to an ethics provision brokered by Senator Cynthia Lummis, Senate Democrats — and some Republicans, including Thom Tillis — said they had concerns with the language. Tillis and Senator Ruben Gallego drafted a counter-proposal, which they said they sent to the White House at the end of July. The White House has not publicly responded as of press time.
Other outstanding issues include Agriculture Committee provisions and law enforcement concerns, a Senate aide told CoinDesk on Wednesday.
UPDATE (Aug. 7, 2026, 02:35 UTC): Adds additional detail.
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