Senator Hagerty Expects CLARITY Act to Reach Full Senate This Month

The cryptocurrency-focused CLARITY Act could be advanced by the Senate Banking Committee and reach the full Senate by the end of the month, Sen. Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., said Monday (April 6), Cointelegraph reported.

Speaking at the Vanderbilt University Digital Assets and Emerging Tech Policy Summit, Hagerty said the bill’s proponents could have it into the committee during the work period that starts April 13 and then out to the full Senate.

“There’re several issues still outstanding, I think none of them are insurmountable, and we will get to a point I believe in April that we’ll have it out of the banking committee,” Hagerty said, according to the report. “There’s still a lot more work to do.”

It was reported March 24 that the alleged contents of a new draft of the proposed CLARITY Act sent a tremor through digital asset markets as it aims to prohibit platforms from offering yield on stablecoins, a practice that has become one of the foundational incentives for both retail and institutional participation in cryptocurrency ecosystems.

Two days earlier, on March 22, it was reported that lawmakers had made progress on the CLARITY Act after weeks of impasse. The bill had been stalled in committee since January, but a pair of senators said they had reached a tentative agreement with the White House about language they want to include in the legislation.

That language was designed to resolve a dispute between the banking and crypto sectors around stablecoin yield, and could represent a breakthrough for the bill.

Earlier in March, negotiations over the crypto bill had hit an impasse, with large banks saying they could not support a White House compromise on stablecoin “rewards,” raising doubts the legislation would clear Congress this year.

The bill had already become bogged down in January, when banks opposed language that would let stablecoin issuers and crypto firms pay interest-like rewards that would draw deposits out of banks and make lending harder.

Beyond rewards, there are also issues such as some senators wanting limits on elected officials profiting from crypto ventures, while others want tougher rules to prevent money laundering.