Technology

Senate crypto talks go down to the wire before key test

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by Julia Shapero - 05/14/26 6:00 AM ET

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by Julia Shapero - 05/14/26 6:00 AM ET

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Senators are racing to reach an agreement on a cryptocurrency regulation bill before it faces a key hurdle in the upper chamber.

The Senate Banking Committee is scheduled to vote Thursday on a bill meant to give federal regulators clear guidelines for overseeing crypto companies, a long-standing priority for the industry and its supporters in Washington.

President Trump and GOP lawmakers are eager to secure major policy wins ahead of the midterm elections, and a group of moderate Democrats may join them in an effort to pass long-sought rules for the crypto industry.

The legislation appears likely to advance out of the committee following a series of recent deals aimed at getting key Senate Republicans on board. But a lack of Democratic support, driven in part by concerns about Trump’s personal involvement in the industry, could spell trouble for the measure on the Senate floor.

“We doubt these changes will be enough to secure Democratic votes for the bill in the Banking Committee, but talks will continue ahead of Thursday’s markup,” Brian Gardner, chief Washington policy strategist at the wealth management and investment banking firm Stifel, wrote in a note Tuesday.

“If the bill passes the committee on a party-line vote, then the bill’s prospects will be weak,” he added. “If one or two Democrats cross the aisle and support the bill, then it would have a fighting chance of passing this year.”

Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.) released an updated version of the bill, now officially named the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, early Tuesday.

The 309-page draft featured several key changes, including a revamped version of a stablecoin provision that held up negotiations on the bill for months, tweaks to software developer protections that faced pushback from law enforcement groups and a new housing provision seemingly aimed at appeasing Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.).

But notably absent from the bill is language restricting the ways government officials can invest or partake in the crypto industry, a key priority for Senate Democrats.

Ethics has become a key point of contention on crypto legislation, as Trump and his family have become increasingly involved in the industry in his second term.

Amid his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump and his sons launched a crypto venture, World Liberty Financial. The president and first lady also unveiled meme coins just days before he took office in 2025, and Trump Media and Technology Group, Truth Social’s parent company, has shifted toward crypto, announcing a partnership with Crypto.com last year.

The White House has long maintained Trump is abiding by all conflict of interest rules that apply to the president and argued “it is absurd for anyone to insinuate that this president is profiting off of the presidency.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, slammed the lack of an ethics provision Tuesday, suggesting the bill “puts investors, our national security and our entire financial system at risk — and it will turbocharge Donald Trump’s crypto corruption.”

“The American people are watching,” she added in a statement. “No Member of the Committee should support a bill that fails to stop the massive conflict of interests posed by Donald Trump and his family’s crypto ventures.”

Warren, a longtime crypto critic, was widely expected to oppose the legislation. However, several moderate Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee have been more receptive to the industry and worked with Republicans on both the current bill and the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, a stablecoin measure that Trump signed into law last year.

Their support will be crucial to getting the bill, often referred to as simply the Clarity Act, across the finish line if it heads to the Senate floor.

“Typically, a bill getting a committee vote would signify progress,” Ian Katz, managing partner at Capital Alpha, wrote in a Monday analysis. “But if Clarity doesn’t get any Democratic support on Thursday, it’s effectively no closer to becoming law than it is today.”

Several Democrats indicated Wednesday that negotiations were going down to the wire with just one day to go until the markup.

“We’re still having around-the-clock conversations and negotiations right now, so I don’t know where we’re going to be tomorrow,” Sen. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) told The Hill. “I will say I still have concerns.”

On ethics, Kim noted that “it all kind of depends on one person for the Republicans, which is the president.”

“Anything that we get toward that even resembles a deal, if they don’t give me assurances that this is something that the president and the White House has signe