On July 22, 2026, Senate Republicans delivered a 616-page bill that fuses the Banking and Agriculture committee drafts into one full text. This updated CLARITY Act includes over 70 pages of fresh content, featuring a government ethics section negotiated with the White House.
The legislation categorizes digital assets into three legal groups. Digital commodities will fall under the CFTC’s authority, while investment contract assets come under the SEC’s jurisdiction. A third category covers permitted payment stablecoins, regulated by the GENIUS Act, which introduces a certification allowing tokens to shed security status as their networks become more decentralized.
A key provision, the ETP grandfather clause, exempts tokens used in qualifying exchange-traded products before January 1, 2026, from being treated as securities. This immediately affects Bitcoin, Ether, XRP, SOL, and DOGE without needing issuer intervention.
The bill retains the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act from the House version, protecting non-custodial software developers from money transmitter and Bank Secrecy Act rules. also validators and open-source publishers in DeFi receive exemptions from registration requirements.
Despite the release, the Senate did not file a cloture motion before the August 8 recess. Attention shifted toward a nominations package and a Russia sanctions bill, pushing the CLARITY Act to the back burner for the summer. With a compressed September calendar and fading political momentum, the chances for passage dropped sharply from over 80% in February to about 30% by late July.
This merged bill isn’t a simple revision but a new document combining the Senate Banking Committee’s market structure plan and the Agriculture Committee’s commodity-market rules. It also adds entirely new sections on government ethics, law enforcement tools, sanctions, and anti-money laundering.
Senator Cynthia Lummis released the full merged text along with a detailed section-by-section summary. The bill keeps its original number, H.R. 3633, which passed the House 294-134 in July 2025.
This material is for informational purposes and does not constitute financial advice.
