<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the department is moving at a "deliberate speed" to establish a strategic bitcoin reserve while continuing to push for passage of a major cryptocurrency market structure bill this summer.</span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Speaking on Wednesday during a Senate Finance Committee hearing to discuss the 2027 budget, Bessent pressed lawmakers to "get behind" the bill, called the Clarity Act, and said he wants that legislation passed this summer.</span></p>
<p class="p3"><span class="s2">"It's very necessary to bring U.S. best practices onshore, and we work tirelessly in terms of custodying these assets and making the U.S. the innovation capital of the world," Bessent said. </span></p>
<p class="p1"><span class="s1">Lawmakers have spent the past year working to pass the Clarity Act, which would regulate the digital asset industry for the first time at the federal level.
A version of the bill passed out of the full <a href="https://www.theblock.co/post/363230/us-house-votes-on-crypto-legislation-sending-stablecoin-genius-act-to-trumps-desk-clarity-to-senate"><span class="s3">House</span></a> last year, but has since found itself stuck in the Senate following hurdles around the treatment of stablecoin rewards, <a href="https://www.theblock.co/post/403532/crypto-industry-launches-pac-software-developer-safeguards-elections-near">software developer protections</a> and how to address <a href="https://www.theblock.co/post/403083/crypto-champion-trump-may-be-jeopardizing-the-industrys-landmark-legislation"><span class="s3">conflicts of interest</span></a> following President Donald Trump's crypto ventures. </span></p>
