Republican leaders on the Senate Banking Committee said the legislation “built on” the CLARITY Act that the House of Representatives passed last week.
Republican leaders on the US Senate Banking Committee have released their version of legislation for a digital asset market structure, suggesting they may combine their efforts with a bill the House of Representatives passed.
In a Tuesday notice, four Republican senators, including banking committee chair Tim Scott and digital assets subcommittee chair Cynthia Lummis, released a discussion draft of crypto market structure legislation.
According to lawmakers, the tentatively titled Responsible Financial Innovation Act “builds on” the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act, which the House passed on July 17.
“My colleagues in the House and Senate and I share the same goal: provide clear rules of the road for digital assets,” said Scott.
Though Republicans in the House pushed through three crypto bills with bipartisan support last week, only the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act had passed through both chambers, and US President Donald Trump was able to sign it into law.
Scott and Lummis said in June that they planned to have the market structure bill passed by the Senate before October.
Comparing Senate and House Crypto Bills
Both chambers’ versions of the crypto market structure legislation proposed amending disclosure requirements under the Securities Act of 1933, implying that existing laws were unsuitable for regulating modern investment vehicles such as digital assets.
The CLARITY Act appeared to allow more collaboration between the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in establishing rules for digital asset transactions.
The Senate’s draft bill also included amendments related to disclosures of “ancillary assets,” which lawmakers said applied to digital assets that were not considered securities.
Whether the draft bill will have enough support to pass in the Senate, where Republicans hold a slim majority over Democrats, is unclear.
More than 70 House Democrats sided with Republicans to pass the CLARITY Act, but any change to the wording of the bill could spark debates or pushback in a heated Congress.
