The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) has intensified its campaign for the US Senate to pass the long-delayed CLARITY Act, warning that America risks ceding financial technology innovation to overseas markets if lawmakers fail to agree a federal framework for digital assets.
The trade body, which represents more than 1,300 technology companies and celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2024, is urging Senate leaders to move the bill to a floor vote after it cleared key committees with bipartisan backing. Senators are now wrestling with amended ethics provisions and other contested elements that must be resolved before any final decision.
CTA senior vice president of government affairs Michael Petricone used X on 28 July to argue that the House of Representatives has already completed its work and that industry is broadly behind the legislation, leaving the Senate to decide whether the next phase of financial technology growth happens “in the United States or overseas”.
The association insists that the CLARITY Act would deliver the regulatory certainty businesses say they need before committing long-term capital to new digital-asset products. According to CTA, a clear, nationwide rulebook would help unlock investment, enhance consumer protection, support innovation and underpin US leadership in blockchain technology.
House backing shifts spotlight to Senate
CTA’s latest intervention builds on a letter it sent on 17 June calling for swift Senate approval. The House passed the CLARITY Act in 2025 with strong cross-party support, shifting the focus – and the political pressure – to the upper chamber.
In an effort to break the deadlock, US Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) has published updated bill text that blends work from both the Senate Banking Committee and the Senate Agriculture Committee. The revised draft tackles questions of market supervision, consumer safeguards and how regulatory powers over digital assets should be divided.
However, the new language has not ended the row over ethics and enforcement. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), the ranking member on the Senate Banking Committee, has warned that the compromise text still leaves what she calls major conflicts of interest unresolved.
That dispute is now central to the bill’s trajectory. Backers portray the CLARITY Act as a robust, long-term framework to attract investment and keep the US competitive in crypto and blockchain markets, while opponents argue that Congress must first tighten protections before setting out fresh rules for the sector.
Standoff continues despite White House talks
For now, the CLARITY Act remains stuck in the Senate as negotiations continue over the outstanding points of contention. A White House ethics agreement was intended to narrow at least one area of disagreement, but it has not yet been enough to unlock consensus.
Former House Financial Services Committee chairman Patrick McHenry has tried to project confidence on the bill’s prospects, casting its eventual passage as “a question of when, not if”.
Support has also come from the Securities and Exchange Commission. SEC Chair Paul Atkins has urged Congress to act, arguing that statute passed by lawmakers would provide a more durable and predictable regime than rules built primarily through federal agency regulation.
Outside the Capitol, advocacy groups have vowed to score senators on how they vote on the CLARITY Act, signalling that the issue will feature in candidate ratings and adding to the political stakes ahead of the November midterm elections.
Banking sector and Wall Street weigh in
While the broader debate focuses on the structure of digital-asset oversight, banks are zeroing in on a specific dispute over rewards on stablecoins. More than 130 banking leaders have pressed Congress to ensure payment stablecoins cannot operate like interest-bearing accounts, warning that any shift of deposits could hit the pool of funds used to support mortgages, agricultural lending, small business finance and local communities.
On Wall Street, the CLARITY Act has drawn backing from Blackrock, the world’s largest asset manager. Blackrock’s support comes as the Senate races against its legislative calendar, with limited floor time left to tackle complex financial legislation before the election season fully takes hold.
With industry, regulators, consumer advocates and lawmakers all jockeying to shape the final text, the CLARITY Act has become a key test of how – and how quickly – Washington will set nationwide rules for the fast-evolving crypto and digital-asset market.
