Crypto industry urges Senate to advance Clarity Act markup

A coalition of crypto trade groups, venture firms and digital asset companies sent an April 23 letter urging the Senate Banking Committee to hold a markup on the Clarity Act, saying continued delay risks moving investment, jobs and technological development offshore.

The letter was led by the Crypto Council for Innovation and the Blockchain Association and was addressed to Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott, Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren, Digital Assets Subcommittee Chair Cynthia Lummis and Ranking Member Ruben Gallego. The groups asked lawmakers to “notice and proceed towards a markup” and highlighted several points they say the committee has made progress on: preserving transaction-based consumer rewards tied to payment stablecoins, clarifying Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission authority over tokenized financial instruments, protecting developers and service providers of decentralized technologies, and creating a predictable federal baseline across all 50 states.

Signers argued that agency guidance alone will not remove legal uncertainty for builders and market participants. The letter stated, “The United States cannot risk a return to the previous era of regulation by enforcement, which perpetuated uncertainty for both builders and market participants,” and added that “timely action is critical” to prevent capital and jobs from relocating to jurisdictions with clearer rules. The list of signatories includes Coinbase, Circle, Kraken, Uniswap Labs, Ripple, Andreessen Horowitz, Chainlink Labs, Chainalysis, OKX, Paradigm and Block, along with advocacy groups, campus chapters and state-level crypto organizations.

Sources close to the negotiations say talks have advanced on the specific question of whether payment stablecoins can be used to deliver consumer rewards, but other technical and policy issues remain unresolved. Observers point to multiple outstanding obstacles beyond the stablecoin rewards debate, and an earlier target for Senate action in April has slipped. At a Washington event, Sen. Bernie Moreno expressed confidence the market-structure package could be completed by the end of May and described bank objections to stablecoin yields as “a lot of noise in the system.”

The Clarity Act, under consideration by the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, aims to set federal standards for digital-asset market structure, stablecoin regulation and the treatment of tokenized financial instruments. Central issues in the debate include how to divide regulatory authority between the SEC and the CFTC and how to protect developers and decentralized service providers from liability while preserving investor protections. Supporters say a single federal baseline would prevent a patchwork of state rules that could complicate interstate commerce and deter firms from operating in the U.S.

The industry coalition also noted that ethics questions tied to President Donald Trump’s connections with the crypto sector are likely to reappear during public debate, adding a political consideration to the legislative timetable. The letter emphasized congressional legislation, rather than agency action or case-by-case enforcement, as the preferred path to legal clarity and market confidence.

The groups urged the committee to move to markup promptly so members can refine language, resolve remaining disputes and advance the measure for further consideration.