WASHINGTON—The U.S. Senate Banking Committee has released the full text of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, a sweeping cryptocurrency market structure proposal that would establish a federal regulatory framework for digital assets and divide oversight responsibilities between the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Separately, the House passed the credit union-supported SMART Act.
As the CU Daily has been reporting, the Clarity Act has been contentious, with the banking industry strongly opposed to provisions that would allow for the payment of interest on stablecoin deposits. Credit unions, meanwhile, which fought to be included in the bill, have said all they are seeking is parity with any authority provided to banks.
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The 309-page bill was released ahead of a scheduled committee markup this week led by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott and Sens. Cynthia Lummis and Thom Tillis. The legislation is designed to create clearer rules for cryptocurrency exchanges, token issuers, stablecoin providers and decentralized finance platforms.
In a statement accompanying the release, Scott said the bill “puts consumers first, combats illicit finance, cracks down on criminals and foreign adversaries, and keeps the future of finance here in the United States.”
Key Provisions
Key provisions of the legislation include:
- Requiring crypto exchanges, brokers and dealers to comply with Bank Secrecy Act anti-money laundering and customer due diligence requirements
- Clarifying when digital tokens are treated as securities versus commodities
- Allowing some crypto firms to raise up to $50 million annually without SEC registration
- Establishing standards for determining whether decentralized finance platforms are sufficiently decentralized to avoid certain regulations
- Preserving SEC oversight of tokenized securities
- Directing regulators to develop cybersecurity and post-quantum cryptography standards for digital assets.
The ‘Interest’ing Issue
The measure also addresses stablecoins, prohibiting interest-style rewards on idle stablecoin balances while permitting some transaction-related incentives, according to Reuters and other reports. Banking trade groups have argued such rewards could encourage deposits to move from traditional banks into digital assets.
The Senate proposal builds on the House-passed CLARITY Act approved in 2025 and would need to be reconciled with separate legislation advanced by the Senate Agriculture Committee before a full Senate vote.
The White House is targeting a July 4 signing as a 250th-anniversary milestone.
House Passes SMART Act
Separately, the House by voice vote has passed the SMART Act,
The bill, introduced by Reps. William Timmons, a Republican from South Carolina, and Bill Foster, an Illinois Democrat, would allow qualifying financial institutions with less than $6 billion in assets to alternate between full-scope and limited-scope examinations and combine certain exams where appropriate.
As the CU Daily has reported, according to America’s Credit Unions, the measure would provide regulatory relief for well-managed, well-capitalized credit unions through combined safety-and-soundness and consumer compliance exams, while also permitting limited off-site examinations in alternate years.
Providing Relief
“We thank Representatives Timmons and Foster for providing well-managed and well-capitalized credit with relief through the SMART Act,” Kathleen Coulombe, America’s Credit Unions chief advocacy officer, said in a statement, “By reducing examination burdens for certain credit unions, this relief would allow credit unions to dedicate more time to what they do best: investing in the financial futures of their members and communities. With bipartisan support for this legislation in the House, we urge senators to follow suit with swift passage.” =
The legislation now moves to the Senate for consideration.
