US Republicans Present Final CLARITY Act Proposal with Major Revisions Ahead of Vote
On Sunday, US Senate Republicans released a revised 635-page version of the CLARITY Act, featuring major amendments to rules governing government officials' involvement with digital assets. The bill, drafted under the leadership of Senate Banking Digital Assets Subcommittee Chair Cynthia Lummis along with John Boozman and Tim Scott, also includes modifications to the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act (BRCA) and provisions governing stablecoin yields. This proposal was described as a final offer ahead of a procedural vote scheduled for Tuesday.
Details of the Final CLARITY Act Text
Senate Digital Assets Subcommittee Chair Cynthia Lummis stated that the revised text reflects a year of bipartisan negotiations and includes 126 changes requested by Democrats.
The main ethics changes empower state attorneys general to enforce prohibitions against federal officials issuing, sponsoring, or holding significant financial interests in digital assets, and forbid exchanges from listing assets that violate those prohibitions.
Affected individuals will be required to divest significant financial interests or place them into qualified blind trusts. Violations will incur civil penalties of $500,000 or 20% of the amount involved in the prohibited transaction, whichever is greater. These ethics provisions are set to take effect 360 days after enactment or sooner if implementing regulations are finalized.
Modifications to Stablecoin Regulation and BRCA
Regarding stablecoins, the Treasury Secretary must enact rules limiting rewards if it is determined that community banks are losing deposits on a significant scale. This authority will expire 18 months after the bill becomes law.
The revised Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act (BRCA) retains protection for developers from being classified as money transmitters or financial institutions under the Bank Secrecy Act. Importantly, this protection now extends to miners and validators, who were previously excluded.
References to Section 1960 of Title 18 of the US Code, which prohibits unlicensed money transmitting businesses, have been removed from the proposal.
Additional Safeguards and Legislative Process
The bill introduces stronger safeguards against affiliate trading and conflicts of interest among digital commodity exchanges, brokers, and dealers, and clarifies how consumer protection laws apply in this context.
The bill’s text was disclosed only two days before a procedural vote scheduled for Tuesday at 2:15pm ET, which will decide if the Senate can move forward to floor consideration. A Republican aide described this as the bill’s final offer.
US President Donald Trump has voluntarily agreed to unprecedented ethics restrictions included in the proposal, a significant aspect emphasized by Lummis as part of the bipartisan deal.
Why it matters
The adoption of the CLARITY Act with its final amendments marks a politically and legally significant milestone by introducing strict ethics rules for federal officials in the digital asset realm, reflecting heightened concerns about conflicts of interest and potential abuse. The new approach to stablecoin regulation and expanded protections under the BRCA illustrate lawmakers’ attempt to balance blockchain innovation with financial risk oversight. This represents a major step in shaping the US federal digital asset policy, potentially impacting the market's development and its participants.
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