Overview
- The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act has cleared the House, passed the Senate Banking Committee, and was placed on the Senate Legislative Calendar, making it eligible for a full floor vote.
- Negotiators say core policy is largely settled, but talks are now focused on how to write and enforce conflict‑of‑interest and ethics provisions that could restrict government officials’ participation in crypto businesses.
- The bill formalizes a two‑agency system that assigns investment‑contract tokens to the SEC and sufficiently decentralized network tokens to the CFTC, resolving a central legal uncertainty for issuers and exchanges.
- Key program details include $150 million for crypto‑crime enforcement, temporary transaction freeze powers for exchanges, and safe harbors that would protect noncustodial developers, node operators, and validators from money‑transmitter rules.
- Passage depends on merging competing Senate texts and winning about 60 votes to clear a filibuster, and supporters warn missing the narrow pre‑recess window would likely delay enactment and the rule‑making that turns law into usable regulation.