Senate Republicans released a revised 635-page text of the Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act on 13 Sept, framing the draft as their last, best, and final offer to Democrats. President Donald Trump accepted strengthened ethics rules that he had previously resisted, including mandatory divestment or qualified blind trusts for covered federal officials holding substantial digital asset interests. The Senate votes on a procedural cloture motion at 2:15 pm Eastern Time on Tuesday, requiring a 60-vote supermajority to advance the legislation.
What Changed in the CLARITY Act Revision
The CLARITY ACT update incorporates 126 substantive policy amendments requested by Democrats across more than a year of bipartisan negotiations. Republicans introduced the draft as an amendment like a substitute to H.R. 3633. If the cloture motion succeeds, leadership plans to offer this 635-page version as the formal substitute text that the full Senate will debate.
A Republican aide noted that the revised draft addresses most outstanding regulatory priorities, characterizing the release as the final available compromise ahead of the floor vote.
The Ethics Concession Accepted by the White House
The updated ethics provisions in the CLARITY Act adopts roughly 80% of the counterproposal submitted to the White House in late July by Senators Thom Tillis and Ruben Gallego. Under the new language, covered federal officials and their spouses must divest significant crypto interests or place them into a qualified blind trust, while being strictly prohibited from issuing, sponsoring, or receiving consideration from digital asset projects.
Two elements had been sticking points for months. State attorneys general gain a role enforcing the ethics provisions, which the White House had opposed, preferring to leave enforcement to the Justice Department, and the rules carry no sunset date. Trump reported more than $1.4 billion in income from family crypto ventures last year, including $635 million in royalties tied to his memecoin and $515 million from World Liberty Financial token sales. The text does not name him, and the supervising ethics office would decide whether any remaining holding meets a $15,000 threshold.
Additional Revisions in the 635-Page Text
Beyond ethics compliance, the substitute legislation includes several notable market structure adjustments:
- Stablecoin Deposit Protections: The draft introduces a federal regulatory circuit breaker allowing regulators to intervene if community banks face severe deposit flight driven by yield-bearing stablecoins.
- Developer Protections: Liability exemptions under the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act were narrowed to exclude specific criminal violations.
- Intermediary Safeguards: New restrictions target internal conflicts of interest, proprietary trading, and affiliate relationships across digital commodity exchanges, brokerages, and registered dealers.
The Vote Math for Cloture at 2:15 pm ET
Cloture on the motion to proceed requires 60 votes. Republicans hold 53 seats, so at least seven Democrats or independents must cross over, and nine or ten if any Republicans defect.
Democrats had not responded publicly to the revised text at the time of writing. Seven Senate Democrats rejected the previous draft in late July over consumer protection, illicit finance and market integrity, and those seven are the votes the new language is written to win.
How the Odds Have Moved
Polymarket prediction contracts tracked the probability of the CLARITY Act being enacted in 2026 climbing above 32% following the text’s release, reaching its highest level since early August. Contract odds had previously dropped toward 12% in early September as negotiations stalled over ethics language.
Galaxy research head Alex Thorn raised his estimated passage probability from 10% to 25% on the revised draft. White House digital assets adviser Patrick Witt emphasized that the administration and Senate Republicans had worked extensively to accommodate Democratic priorities, noting that the release represents the limits of legislative compromise.
What a Failed Vote Would Mean for the Industry
A failure to secure 60 votes on Tuesday would effectively delay comprehensive market structure legislation past the November midterm elections. Because congressional sessions operate on a two-year calendar, unpassed bills must be reintroduced from scratch in the next Congress.
For Indian traders, the effect runs through liquidity, not law. Platforms registered with FIU-IND list assets that global market makers support, and US classification shapes which tokens those firms are willing to quote, so a statutory framework widens the set available here while continued uncertainty keeps it narrow.
FAQ
1. When is the CLARITY Act vote?
The Senate votes at 2:15pm Eastern Time on Tuesday 15 September 2026 on cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 3633. Cloture requires 60 votes, and Republicans hold 53 seats, so at least seven Democrats or independents must vote for it.
2. What ethics rules did Trump agree to?
The revised text requires covered federal officials and their spouses to divest substantial crypto interests or place them in a qualified blind trust, and bars them from issuing or sponsoring digital assets for consideration. It also lets state attorneys general enforce those rules and sets no sunset date, both of which the White House had previously resisted.
3. What is in the revised CLARITY Act?
The substitute text includes 126 bipartisan adjustments. Key provisions add a bank circuit breaker for stablecoin deposit outflows, narrow liability protections for developers in criminal contexts, and enforce strict conflict-of-interest rules across digital commodity trading platforms.
4. What happens if the CLARITY Act vote fails?
If the vote falls short of 60 votes, market structure legislation will likely stall past the November midterm elections. Because legislative sessions reset every two years, the bill would need to be reintroduced from scratch in the subsequent Congress.
