The U.S. Senate did not include the CLARITY Act on its 4 August agenda, reducing the time available for lawmakers to advance the cryptocurrency market structure bill before the chamber’s August recess.
Senators convened at 10:00 a.m. ET on Tuesday before breaking until 2:15 p.m., according to the Senate Daily Press schedule. After leadership remarks, the chamber was expected to continue considering a motion to proceed to H.R. 6500, a vehicle for a continuing resolution, following a cloture vote.
The day’s programme also included possible votes on Erica Schwartz’s nomination to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, alongside 74 other nominations being considered as a group.
There was no mention of H.R. 3633, formally titled the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act.
The bill’s absence from the published schedule does not prevent Senate leaders from adding it later. However, no cloture motion had been filed on H.R. 3633 by Tuesday, leaving lawmakers without the procedural step required to move towards a full vote.
Analyst Ted Pillows said that if Senate leadership waited until Wednesday to file cloture, Friday would probably be the earliest opportunity for a procedural vote.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune has continued to describe digital asset market structure as a legislative priority, although government funding remains ahead of it. The Senate is currently working through the continuing resolution as the deadline for the recess draws closer.
“We have a bunch of stuff that we have to finish, and we’ll just stay here until we finish it,” Thune said.
Thune was also asked specifically about the cryptocurrency bill, but no further quotation from that exchange was provided. He has previously identified market structure legislation as a possible priority for Senate consideration while stressing that funding the government was the chamber’s most urgent responsibility.
If the Senate takes no action this week, the CLARITY Act could face a more extended delay. Once lawmakers return, the available legislative calendar will be limited, while the November elections are expected to draw attention away from the bill.
The scheduling setback follows a disagreement between the Blockchain Association and the National Sheriffs’ Association over the way the latest version of the legislation would regulate decentralised finance, or DeFi.
In an eight-page letter sent to Thune and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer on 3 August, the Blockchain Association rejected claims that the 22 July draft granted DeFi protocols, software developers, mixers and bridges a “blanket exemption” from anti-money laundering and sanctions rules.
The industry group said the bill separated intermediaries that control customer funds or transactions from developers who only publish neutral software. Registered brokers, exchanges and other intermediaries would remain subject to compliance obligations, it argued.
The National Sheriffs’ Association has said protections for developers could create gaps that make financial crime investigations more difficult. Other law-enforcement organisations, however, have backed the legislation’s control-based approach. A Blockchain Association letter published in June carried the signatures of 160 former national security, intelligence and law-enforcement officials.
Market expectations have also weakened. Traders on prediction-market platform Polymarket placed the probability of H.R. 3633 becoming law in 2026 at 23%. The contract’s chart showed the odds down 42%, with about $3.9m in trading volume.
Those figures reflect market sentiment rather than an official forecast. The bill remains active, but its progress depends on Senate leaders filing cloture and securing enough support to begin floor consideration.
For the U.S. cryptocurrency sector, the legislation could establish the respective responsibilities of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. For now, the missing place on the Senate agenda and the unresolved procedural requirements have left that regulatory framework waiting for another opportunity.
