The U.S. Congress is intensifying negotiations to push forward a comprehensive cryptocurrency regulation bill, hoping to ultimately send the bill to President Donald Trump for signature. However, despite some senators holding an optimistic view on the legislative timetable, the actual progress of deliberations still faces multiple variables such as White House language, ethical clauses, and procedural arrangements, leading to uncertainties about whether the committee review can be completed before Christmas.
Bipartisan: The bill is close to completion and is progressing smoothly.
New York Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Wyoming Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis stated this week at the Blockchain Association policy summit in Washington, D.C. that the Senate version of the cryptocurrency market clarity bill (the CLARITY Act) is progressing rapidly.
Cynthia Gillibrand pointed out that both the Democratic and Republican parties have been deeply negotiating, and the bipartisan meeting held for the first time last week made "very good progress." She even emphasized:
"Nothing is stopping this bill."
Lummis added that the goal is to release the bill draft this weekend and hold hearings, amendments, and voting in the Senate Banking Committee next week.
The CLARITY Act is an important piece of legislation proposed by the U.S. Congress, aimed at establishing a clear regulatory framework for digital assets, dividing regulatory authority between the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), delineating the boundaries between "commodities" and "securities," further regulating decentralized finance (DeFi) trading platforms, and requiring exchanges and developers to comply with more transparent information disclosure and customer asset protection regulations to resolve regulatory ambiguity and promote market innovation.
Gillibrand stated that the Democratic Party submitted its final policy demands to the Republican Party on Monday evening, hoping to include them in the bill draft. Lummis said:
"I am very optimistic that the quality of this draft will be very strong when completed, even covering issues that were not addressed in the House version."
Some lawmakers find the negotiations "frustrating".
However, not all senators feel optimistic about the progress of the bill.
Ohio Republican Senator Bernie Moreno stated at the same summit the day before that the negotiations over the past two weeks have been "quite frustrating." Additionally, crypto journalist Eleanor Terrett pointed out that Senate Banking Committee Senator Mark Warner openly admitted at an event in New York today that it would be "very difficult" to finish the bill markup before the Christmas recess, primarily because the White House has yet to provide the final text on ethics provisions and committee quorum, and bipartisan negotiations are still ongoing but have not reached a final consensus.
NEW: At @moonpay’s New York office today, Senator @MarkWarner told me that getting a crypto market structure markup done before Christmas break will be "very hard" because they are still waiting on White House language for two major pieces of the bill: ethics and quorum. "At… pic.twitter.com/73QFxQQHY4
— Eleanor Terrett (@EleanorTerrett) December 8, 2025
Bernie Warner further emphasized that both party teams meet daily, but getting things "right" requires more time, suggesting that the bill may not formally enter the Banking Committee's review process until early 2025.
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