The crypto industry got a big push forward on July 22, when Senate Republicans released the merged text of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong immediately called it ready for a full Senate floor vote. The Blockchain Association and the DeFi Education Fund echoed that, urging the chamber to act before the August recess.
What the bill actually does
The 616-page draft, released by Senate Banking Digital Assets Subcommittee Chair Cynthia Lummis, stitches together versions already passed separately by the Banking and Agriculture Committees. At its core, the bill splits oversight of digital assets between the SEC and the CFTC, giving the market a federal framework it has never had. Lummis framed the moment bluntly: "The coming weeks are likely the last real chance we will have for years to get this right."
The bill cleared the Senate Banking Committee 15-9 back in May. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has told CoinDesk his office plans to push for floor action before the summer break. Coinbase Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad pointed to specific wins in the text: 1-to-1 customer asset segregation rules, federal anti-money-laundering standards, and ethics language that, for the first time, would cover the president and vice president. Armstrong also noted that Stand With Crypto members have already sent 950,000 messages to Congress, and cited polling suggesting 70% of American voters want full crypto legislation passed.
Where Democrats are digging in
The real obstacle is the ethics section. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks did not mince words, calling the bill's DOJ-led ethics enforcement approach "wild and unserious and stone-cold crazy." That language captures the core Democratic objection: the draft hands conflict-of-interest policing to the Justice Department rather than building in tighter, independent oversight of government officials with crypto holdings. Getting to 60 votes on the Senate floor almost certainly hinges on resolving that fight.
Shirzad acknowledged the industry "did not get everything it wanted," but called the bill "an extraordinary achievement." Without a federal framework, as Armstrong pointed out, bad actors like FTX were free to harm U.S. customers while large parts of the industry moved offshore entirely beyond American regulatory reach.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute financial or investment advice.
