U.S. Senator Jon Husted has urged colleagues to push through the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act despite analysts now putting the bill’s chances of becoming law in 2026 at just 30%.
Husted, a Republican from Ohio appointed to the Senate in 2025 to replace Vice President JD Vance, publicly endorsed the legislation on 28 July. Writing on X on Tuesday, he argued that the United States needs clear digital asset rules if it is to remain competitive in the global crypto market.
His intervention comes as Republican supporters try to build momentum before Congress departs for its summer recess, with Husted among a widening group of senators pressing for a vote on the measure, known widely as the CLARITY Act.
First federal framework for crypto oversight
The CLARITY Act – formally titled the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act – would establish the first comprehensive federal framework for regulating crypto markets in the United States, dividing responsibilities between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
Under the proposal, tokens would be classified into three categories. The CFTC would receive exclusive authority over spot markets for digital commodities, while the SEC would continue to regulate assets that still function as securities.
The House of Representatives passed its own version of the bill in July 2025 by 294 votes to 134. The Senate Banking Committee followed in May 2026, advancing a separate draft by a 15-9 margin. Those moves set up the current negotiations over a single merged Senate text.
Lummis revision fails to resolve core dispute
Senator Cynthia Lummis introduced a revised version of the legislation on 22 July, combining language from both the Senate Banking and Agriculture committees into one negotiating document.
However, the central disagreement blocking a bipartisan deal remains unresolved. The latest draft would prohibit the president, vice president, members of Congress, federal judges and their spouses from issuing or sponsoring digital assets for compensation while in office through January 2029. It would also require those officials to divest their crypto holdings or place them in a blind trust.
Democrats argue these ethics safeguards are still too weak, while many Republicans are seeking less restrictive provisions. That clash over ethics rules has emerged as the main obstacle to building the 60-vote coalition required to move the bill through the Senate.
Odds of passage cut as Senate clock runs down
Reflecting the deadlock, Galaxy Research has reduced its forecast for the CLARITY Act’s prospects this year. Head of research Alex Thorn has cut the estimated odds of enactment from 50% to 30%, citing the Senate’s 60-vote threshold and warning that supporters may not even have a simple majority secured.
Time pressure is adding to the difficulties. The Senate has around two weeks before its August recess to bring the bill to a vote. Lawmakers following the talks say that if that window is missed, consideration is likely to slip into the autumn, when the build-up to the midterm elections typically makes it harder to pass complex financial legislation.
Such a delay could keep the broader structure of U.S. crypto market rules unsettled well into 2027 or beyond, prolonging the regulatory uncertainty that firms such as Coinbase and Ripple have spent years trying to reduce through lobbying efforts in Washington.
Industry support but Senate stalemate
Husted’s endorsement adds another Republican voice to the campaign urging Senate leaders to act, but it does not fundamentally change the arithmetic on the floor. The ethics provisions remain the most significant sticking point between the parties, ahead of secondary disputes over stablecoin rewards and anti-money laundering language that negotiators are still adjusting within the combined text.
The cryptocurrency industry has largely welcomed the direction of travel. Coinbase Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad previously described an earlier version of the merged bill as “a dramatic advance in consumer protection and market integrity” when that text first appeared in mid-July.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has also stepped up public pressure for a Senate vote, presenting the CLARITY Act as a rare bipartisan breakthrough that could reshape the U.S. digital asset landscape, even as its path to becoming law grows increasingly uncertain.
