The digital assets industry largely applauded the Senate Banking Committee advancing the Clarity Act, but the job of passing the legislation into law is still far from done, argue some analysts.
"We are slightly more optimistic that this package could become law after the markup, as it is clear there are Democrats who are looking for a way to back the bill," TD Cowen analyst Jaret Seiberg said Friday in a research note. "It is why we slightly raise the probability the bill passes to 40% from one-in-three. We still see substantive hurdles, but the hearing showed an interest in trying to surmount them."
The Senate Banking Committee voted on Thursday, 15-9, to advance its version of the crypto market structure bill, with support from both Democratic Sens. Ruben Gallego and Angela Alsobrooks.
The Clarity Act, which aims to regulate the crypto industry at the federal level, has been held up for months as the White House, lawmakers, crypto advocates, and the powerful banking lobby debated the proposed legislation. Stablecoin rewards and conflict-of-interest concerns were among the major sticking points.
Benchmark analyst Mark Palmer noted that, despite some recent movement, the legislation will likely need more support from Democrats to become law.
