U.S. Senate Advances the "Clarity Act": Key Milestone in Crypto Market Regulation Framework in January

【BlockBeats】The U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee plans to release the official text of the “Clarity Act” on January 21, followed by a key hearing scheduled for January 27 at 3:00 PM (originally scheduled for January 15 but postponed to this week). This is an important step forward in advancing legislation for cryptocurrency market regulation—during the hearing, lawmakers will debate amendments, decide which provisions to include in the core text, and ultimately vote on whether to submit the full bill to the Senate for consideration.

Meanwhile, the Senate Banking Committee is also ramping up efforts, planning to review its version of the bill this Thursday. The draft from the Banking Committee was made public around midnight last Monday, but lawmakers are expected to submit new amendments before the hearing.

However, several key issues remain unresolved. First is the moral clause—pertaining to potential connections between the current President, his family, and various crypto businesses; second is the quorum rule, which requires regulatory agencies like the SEC and CFTC to be jointly led by bipartisan commissioners (currently, these agencies are led solely by Republican commissioners).

According to two insiders closely monitoring the bill, the Senate Banking Committee’s version also does not address these two sensitive topics. This suggests that the current draft may face challenges in garnering broad bipartisan support, leaving significant room for future negotiations.