CLARITY Act Faces Wave of Amendments Ahead of Markup

The Senate Banking Committee’s CLARITY Act is heading into Thursday’s markup, buried under opposition.

According to reports, Senator Elizabeth Warren alone filed more than 40 amendments before Tuesday’s 5 p.m. ET deadline, and American Bankers Association members sent over 8,000 letters to Senate offices in less than a week demanding changes to the bill’s stablecoin yield rules.

Over 100 Amendments Filed

The total number of proposed amendments going into Thursday is still being confirmed, but according to a list obtained by Politico, there have been more than 100 proposed. To put things in perspective, a total of 137 revisions were proposed before the markup scheduled for January, which was canceled.

Warren’s batch alone covers a wide range of restrictions. One amendment that stood out would bar the Federal Reserve from issuing master accounts to crypto companies, which would effectively cut such firms off from the core infrastructure of the US banking system.

The lawmaker also attacked the updated bill on X, arguing that it lacked ethics provisions tied to President Donald Trump’s crypto businesses.

That dispute has become harder for negotiators to avoid. Late last month, analyst Simon Dedic claimed that Trump’s meme coin and his crypto-related dinners were part of the reason the CLARITY Act was going nowhere, with Democrats demanding conflict-of-interest language before backing the legislation.

Another revision, filed by Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, would prohibit crypto from being used as legal tender, including for paying taxes. That proposal runs directly counter to a bill Representative Warren Davidson introduced last year that would have allowed Bitcoin to be used for precisely that purpose.

Senators Reed and Tina Smith of Minnesota also filed a joint amendment that would incorporate bank-requested changes to the stablecoin yield language.

According to journalist Brendan Pedersen, the proposal will force senators to choose between crypto and the banks on a single vote, making it an uncomfortable moment for Republicans who tend to side with both.

Bankers Blitz Senators With 8,000 Letters

Elsewhere, members of the American Bankers Association have reportedly sent more than 8,000 letters to Senate offices since last Friday, pushing lawmakers to change the bill’s stablecoin yield compromise.

However, Stand With Crypto, the crypto advocacy group, responded with its own numbers on Tuesday, saying its advocates had called Congress 8,000 times and sent 300,000 emails over recent months to protect stablecoin rewards, and have contacted lawmakers nearly 1.5 million times in support of the CLARITY Act overall.

Those on the side of digital assets are framing the banking industry’s lobbying campaign as an attempt to block competition from yield-bearing stablecoins.

Senator Bernie Moreno accused banks of trying to “kill stablecoins that would let everyday Americans earn real yields on their own money.” He also described the banking industry as a “cartel” protecting low-interest deposit models.

But not everyone inside Washington thinks this fight ends at Thursday’s committee vote. According to reporter Sander Lutz, banking policy leaders are already preparing for another push on the Senate floor if they lose the markup battle over yield restrictions.

Meanwhile, crypto journalist Eleanor Terrett reported that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer privately encouraged Democrats to work toward supporting the bill.

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