The US Senate has delayed a crucial step on the Digital Asset Market Construction CLARITY Act, elevating recent doubts about whether or not Congress can go long-awaited crypto guidelines in 2026.
Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman mentioned his committee will postpone its deliberate markup of the invoice till the final week of January.
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No Dialogue on Crypto CLARITY Act Till Two Extra Weeks
The session had been scheduled to happen alongside the Senate Banking Committee’s markup this Thursday. Boozman mentioned the delay goals to protect bipartisan help.
The transfer indicators that Senate leaders don’t but have the votes wanted to advance the invoice. With out sufficient backing throughout get together traces, management dangers seeing the laws stall or collapse throughout committee votes.
The CLARITY Act is essentially the most complete US crypto market construction invoice thus far. The Home handed its model in mid-2025, however the Senate should approve its personal model earlier than the invoice can transfer ahead.
Lawmakers had hoped the January markups would begin that course of.
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As an alternative, the delay displays rising disagreement over key provisions. These embrace stablecoin rewards, DeFi oversight, and the way energy needs to be break up between the SEC and the CFTC.
A markup is the place committees debate and amend the invoice line by line earlier than voting on whether or not to ship it to the complete Senate. If both the Banking or Agriculture Committee rejects the invoice, it can not advance.
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Why the CLARITY Act is Caught
Underneath the CLARITY Act, crypto would obtain formal authorized classifications. Some tokens would fall underneath SEC securities regulation, whereas others can be handled as commodities overseen by the CFTC.
The invoice would additionally create federal guidelines for crypto exchanges, brokers, and custodians, together with asset segregation and market surveillance requirements.
The laws goals to exchange the present enforcement-driven method with clear statutory guidelines. That shift would give establishments and crypto companies a predictable compliance framework for working within the US.
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Nonetheless, help stays fragile. Some Democrats fear the invoice weakens investor protections, whereas some Republicans oppose limits on stablecoin yields and DeFi.
Additionally, business teams have threatened to withdraw backing if late amendments prohibit key enterprise fashions.
Consequently, Senate leaders are attempting to keep away from a failed vote that would push crypto laws off the 2026 calendar.
By transferring the Agriculture Committee markup to late January, lawmakers hope to renegotiate language and rebuild a working coalition.
Whether or not that effort succeeds will resolve if US crypto reform strikes ahead or slips into one other 12 months of gridlock.