The Senate Banking Committee is expected to hold a formal CLARITY Act vote as early as next week, Coinbase said at Consensus 2026.
Summary
- The Senate Banking Committee is preparing to notice a markup for the CLARITY Act the week of May 11, with draft text already circulated to industry.
- Coinbase VP Kara Calvert said the bill needs at least 60 Senate votes and warned that bipartisan backing is essential to advance it.
- A HarrisX survey shows 70% of voters believe the US should have already passed federal crypto legislation.
Coinbase says the CLARITY Act is heading for a Senate Banking Committee vote as early as next week, with Kara Calvert, the company’s vice president for US policy, telling Consensus 2026 in Miami that the markup is expected the week of May 11.
The Senate Banking Committee has reportedly circulated draft legislative text to select industry members ahead of a potential Thursday vote, according to multiple sources cited by journalist Eleanor Terrett on X.
Calvert told Consensus 2026 attendees the bill needs at least 60 votes in the full Senate to advance and that bipartisan support is non-negotiable. “That means you need Democrats,” she said. “You need a bipartisan bill, and we have all been working really hard to make sure that bipartisanship holds.”
What is at stake in the vote
The Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act would draw a statutory line between the SEC and the CFTC, assigning digital commodities to the CFTC and keeping digital securities under SEC oversight. The House passed the bill 294 to 134 in July 2025.
Senate stalemate has followed since, with unresolved disputes over stablecoin yields and the role of banks in crypto markets delaying the committee markup multiple times.
The latest movement comes after Senators Thom Tillis and Angela Alsobrooks brokered a compromise on stablecoin yield that bars crypto firms from paying interest equivalent to bank deposits while permitting activity-based rewards.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong posted “Mark it up” immediately after the text dropped. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse separately called the past week a “big positive shift” for the bill’s Senate momentum from the same Consensus stage.
Political pressure building
Senate Democrats are reportedly considering withholding support unless the committee version includes an ethics-related provision barring lawmakers from trading tokens. Senator John Kennedy has also withheld Republican support, leaving Chair Tim Scott still working to lock the votes needed to proceed.
A HarrisX national survey cited by Calvert found 70% of voters believe the US should have already passed federal crypto legislation, with 62% saying it is important for the US to set global digital finance rules. As crypto.news reported, prediction markets now put the bill’s odds of becoming law in 2026 at roughly 55%.
Senators Lummis and Moreno have both warned that missing the May 21 Memorial Day recess window risks pushing comprehensive crypto legislation off the calendar entirely.
