BREAKING: The U.S. Senate Banking Committee Has Passed the Clarity Act, the Major Cryptocurrency Bill

The long-awaited cryptocurrency market regulation bill, the CLARITY Act, has passed a crucial vote in the Senate committee.

The Clarity Act passed the Senate Banking Committee with a vote of 15 to 9. Two Democratic senators, Ruben Gallego and Angela Alsobrooks, voted in favor of the bill.

Although the bill has passed the committee stage, it still has several important steps to go through before it becomes law. If the final text passed by the Senate is identical to the version passed by the House of Representatives, the bill will be sent directly to the US President for signature or could automatically become law under certain procedures. However, as with most processes, differences between the Senate and House versions are expected.

In this case, a “reconciliation” process will begin between the two chambers. This process could proceed through the parties submitting mutual amendment proposals or by establishing a joint reconciliation committee. The resulting joint text will then be voted on again by both the Senate and the House of Representatives. After both chambers accept the same text, the bill will be formally submitted to the President for approval. Experts say that this entire process could take anywhere from a few weeks to several months.

On the other hand, the recently published revised text of the CLARITY Act is noteworthy, particularly for the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem. The updated version of the bill offers clearer legal protections and developer guarantees for DeFi developers who are developing protocols in the US. It is believed that, similar to the GENIUS Act, which is considered to have accelerated growth in the stablecoin sector, the regulation could pave the way for a new wave of growth in yield-focused DeFi applications.

*This is not investment advice.