A coalition of more than 120 crypto organizations led by the Crypto Council for Innovation and the Blockchain Association sent a joint letter to the Senate Banking Committee on April 23 demanding an immediate markup of the CLARITY Act, warning that further delay risks pushing investment, jobs, and technological development offshore while ceding global regulatory standard-setting to other jurisdictions.
Summary
- More than 120 crypto organizations including Coinbase, Ripple, Kraken, Circle, Uniswap Labs, Andreessen Horowitz, and Galaxy Digital sent a joint letter on April 23 demanding an immediate CLARITY Act markup.
- The letter was addressed to Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott, Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren, Subcommittee Chair Cynthia Lummis, and Ranking Member Ruben Gallego, setting up the most coordinated industry lobbying push the bill has seen.
- Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has called the CLARITY Act a national security priority, while Senator Bernie Moreno warns that missing the end-of-May window could shelve the bill until 2030.
The Blockchain Association posted on X that it and the Crypto Council for Innovation, joined by a broad coalition of more than 120 organizations, had urged the Senate Banking Committee to move forward with a markup on market structure legislation. The letter, addressed to Committee Chairman Tim Scott and Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren, along with Subcommittee Chair Cynthia Lummis and Ranking Member Ruben Gallego, calls on lawmakers to “notice and proceed towards a markup” of the CLARITY Act without further delay.
CLARITY Act Senate Markup Demand Signals Industry Ultimatum
As Bitcoin Magazine reported, the coalition includes Coinbase, Circle, Kraken, Ripple, Uniswap Labs, Andreessen Horowitz, Chainlink Labs, Chainalysis, OKX, Paradigm, and Galaxy Digital, alongside advocacy groups, state blockchain associations, and university chapters of Stand With Crypto. The letter lists six legislative priorities: drawing a clear SEC and CFTC oversight boundary, protecting non-custodial software developers from broker registration requirements, upholding consumer stablecoin rewards tied to activity rather than passive holdings, simplifying digital asset disclosure rules, preventing a patchwork of state-by-state regulation from filling the federal vacuum, and establishing a predictable baseline that keeps capital and innovation onshore. As crypto.news reported, Senator Bernie Moreno dismissed bank opposition to stablecoin rewards as “a lot of noise in the system” at a Washington event on April 22, and said he expects legislation to be completed by the end of May. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has separately called the bill a national security priority, warning that every month of delay pushes digital asset innovation toward hubs like Dubai and Singapore.
The Legislative Clock Is Now the Bill’s Biggest Enemy
The CLARITY Act passed the House 294 to 134 in July 2025 and cleared the Senate Agriculture Committee in January 2026. Despite that progress, the Senate Banking Committee has not scheduled a markup. As crypto.news documented, Congress breaks for Memorial Day recess on May 21, leaving fewer than four weeks of operational legislative time. Even after a successful markup, the bill must clear a 60-vote Senate floor threshold, be reconciled between the Banking and Agriculture Committee versions, reconciled with the House text, and signed by the president. Polymarket currently prices the bill’s 2026 passage odds at below 50%, a sharp decline from the 80% high it reached when the White House signalled imminent progress in early April. Galaxy Research has assessed odds at roughly 50-50 or lower, warning that the sheer number of unresolved questions under severe time pressure makes the path narrower than most in Washington have publicly acknowledged.
Why This Moment Is Different From Prior Industry Pushes
The April 23 letter represents a level of industry coordination the CLARITY Act has not previously seen, with more than 120 organizations signing a unified document rather than issuing separate statements. As crypto.news tracked, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong reversed his company’s January opposition and publicly backed the current bill version in April, a shift that removed one of the most high-profile sources of internal industry friction. As crypto.news noted, the remaining obstacle is not within the crypto industry but between the industry and banking trade groups that continue to lobby individual senators to reopen stablecoin yield provisions already negotiated and agreed upon. The Senate Banking Committee has not announced a markup date as of publication.
“Congress must move quickly to establish a predictable federal baseline,” the coalition letter stated, adding that the US risks returning to regulation-by-enforcement if market structure legislation fails to advance in the current window.
