CLARITY Act Will Miss Trump’s August Deadline: Senate Banking Chairman

For months the White House has said that it wants to sign two pieces of crypto legislation by August, one focused on stablecoins and the other addressing broader market structure questions. Industry experts that I’ve spoken to expressed pessimism that both bills would get across the finish line. Now it appears that we have confirmation that at least one will not.

CLARITY Act Will Miss Trump’s August Deadline: Senate Banking Chairman

The White House wants Congress to pass crypto bills addressing stablecoins and crypto market structure by August. One is on track, but the other just got pushed into the fall.

President Donald Trump’s stated goal of passing market structure cryptocurrency legislation by the August recess is in serious jeopardy.

A spokesperson for Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott (R-SC) confirmed to Unchained in an email this morning that while the senator plans to hold a hearing on the CLARITY Act next month, a markup session will not happen until the fall. These comments confirm a timeline that the senator shared in an interview with Bloomberg published Tuesday morning. 

In response to a question asking for the reason behind the delay the spokesperson said, “After months of good-faith, bipartisan negotiations to advance the GENIUS Act [stablecoin legislation], Chairman Scott looks forward to passing this bill in the Senate and turning immediately to market structure legislation. Chairman Scott and his colleagues remain laser-focused on getting legislation to establish a regulatory framework for digital assets to President Trump’s desk as soon as possible.”

Unchained recently reported that the White House was not in agreement with bipartisan language for the CLARITY Act, which would include a conflict-of-interest clause prohibiting the president, vice president, and members of Congress from engaging in crypto-related business while in office. 

Past Optimism on CLARITY

The stablecoin and market structure bills have been key pillars of the Trump administration’s digital asset policy agenda. Bo Hines, executive director of the Presidential Council of Advisors for Digital Assets, struck an optimistic tone as recently as May. 

“I remain steadfast in my optimism that we’re going to achieve the President’s desires to both put stablecoin legislation and market structure legislation on his desk before August recess,” Hines said following the first failed Senate cloture vote on digital asset legislation.

In April, Scott also sounded positive on the timeline. “President Trump is leading the way to a crypto revolution starting right here in the Banking Committee,” Scott said. “Market structure [is] on its way, to be heard in committee, and I believe passed into law by August.”

What Comes Next

Despite this apparent delay, the CLARITY Act has seen some progress. On the House side, the bill passed out of both the House Financial Services and House Agriculture Committees with bipartisan support. However, these votes came before Unchained’s reporting on the Trump conflict-of-interest dispute.

Additionally, the GENIUS Act, focused on stablecoins, advanced out of the Senate Banking Committee in March, and appears on track to meet the August deadline. But that may be seen as a small consolation prize if the CLARITY Act does not cross the finish line as well.

Trump’s team has floated the idea of a South Lawn signing ceremony in August to mark a major legislative win for crypto. But with the Senate now signaling delays, that ceremony may slip into the fall or be a stablecoin-only affair. 

As negotiations continue, all eyes are on the Senate to see whether political ambition can meet procedural reality.

Related content:

• GENIUS Stablecoin Bill Advances in U.S. Senate

• U.S. House Agriculture Committee Advances CLARITY Act 

• Stablecoin Bill Stalls in Senate as GOP Cries Foul Over Dem Resistance

• White House Rejects Ban on Conflicts of Interest in Crypto’s CLARITY Act