Senate Republicans Post Revised CLARITY Act Text Ahead of Cloture Vote

Revised crypto bill lands days before key Senate test

Senate Republicans posted a new version of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, also known as the CLARITY Act, on September 10. The release comes just five days before the Senate votes on whether to move forward with the legislation.

Senator Cynthia Lummis released the revised text without public backing from the Senate Democrats who have negotiated the bill for over a year. The seven Democrats who worked on the legislation have not withdrawn their July statement opposing the current text.

Cloture, or the vote to begin consideration of the bill, ripens on Tuesday, September 15 at 2:15 p.m. The motion needs 60 votes to pass. Republicans hold 53 seats, while Democrats and two independent senators who caucus with them hold 47. If all Republicans vote to proceed, the bill needs seven Democratic votes to advance.

Three main changes in the new text

Lummis said the changes address provisions requested by Democratic colleagues. The updates focus on three areas:

• Trading protocols that are not fully decentralized must register with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and comply with the Bank Secrecy Act, which requires financial institutions to help prevent money laundering.
• The decentralized finance (DeFi) title now applies only to spot and cash digital commodity transactions, rather than more complex financial products.
• The bill clarifies which digital asset activities credit unions are allowed to conduct.

Lummis said in a press release that the bill now includes more than 114 separate provisions from her Democratic colleagues. The full text is posted as an amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 3633, the version passed by the House.

Law enforcement groups hold mixed positions

The new release lists several large financial firms as supporters, including BlackRock, Fidelity, Franklin Templeton, Goldman Sachs, Charles Schwab, and SoFi. It also names four law enforcement groups: the National Fraternal Order of Police, the National Sheriffs' Association, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, and the Major County Sheriffs of America.

However, the Sheriffs' Association has previously expressed concerns. In a July 31 letter, the group asked senators not to vote on the bill as written, citing exemptions for DeFi participants from anti-money-laundering and sanctions requirements. Neither the Sheriffs' Association nor the Major County Sheriffs of America have posted statements on the September text.

Democrats have not shifted their opposition

Seven Democrats released a joint statement on July 22 criticizing the earlier version of the bill. None have commented on the September revision. In their statement, Senators Mark Warner, Angela Alsobrooks, Cory Booker, Catherine Cortez Masto, Ruben Gallego, John Hickenlooper, and Raphael Warnock said the Republican text falls short on ethics, consumer protection, illicit finance, conflicts of interest, and market integrity.

The ethics title is one area the Democrats flagged, but it was not among the three changes in the September text.

Banking Committee Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren opposes the bill entirely. In her July statement, she criticized the ethics provisions and said the bill does nothing to prevent the current president from profiting from cryptocurrency ventures.

Prediction markets show slim odds of passage

Prediction market Polymarket put the odds of the CLARITY Act being signed into law in 2026 at 18% on Friday, based on $15.1 million in cumulative trading volume since January. Traders had pushed passage odds into 2027 in early August after Majority Leader John Thune let a first cloture filing expire.

A separate Polymarket prediction prices New York Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand as the most likely senator to vote for the bill at 39%, despite her previous involvement in earlier crypto legislation. Another market puts the odds of more than 50 senators voting for the bill at 36%.

What happens next

Tuesday's vote determines whether the Senate considers the bill at all. If it clears cloture, the Senate will hold debate and consider amendments on the ethics, illicit finance, and consumer protection titles. Whatever the Senate passes would return to the House, since the new text replaces the version the House approved in July 2025 by a vote of 294-134.

Sources

• The Defiant