TLDR
- Senate Republicans released a revised 630-page Clarity Act on Thursday ahead of a September 15 procedural vote
- The bill now includes rules for “non-decentralized finance protocols,” requiring them to register with the CFTC
- DeFi provisions are limited to spot and cash digital commodity transactions only
- Over 114 Democrat-requested provisions have been incorporated, but Democrats still lack support for the bill
- The ethics section remains largely unchanged, which is the key sticking point blocking bipartisan support
Senate Republicans dropped a revised version of the Clarity Act on Thursday, just days before a critical September 15 procedural vote that could determine the future of federal crypto regulation in the United States.
BREAKING: 🇺🇸 A new 630-page draft of the CLARITY Act is circulating in the Senate ahead of the September 15 vote.
Key changes in this version:
1. Clarifies when DeFi protocols that aren't truly decentralized must register with the CFTC
2. Limits new DeFi rules to just spot… pic.twitter.com/UK0DLDe6Y8
— Bull Theory (@BullTheoryio) September 10, 2026
The updated 630-page bill was circulated by Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming and fellow Republicans. Lummis said the bill now includes more than 114 provisions added at the request of Democratic colleagues.
The vote on September 15 is a cloture vote, meaning it needs 60 senators to move forward. That requires both Republicans and Democrats to get on board.
What Changed in the New Version
The revised bill adds new rules for what it calls “non-decentralized finance trading protocols.” These are defined as entities where a person or group has the ability to control or materially alter how a protocol operates.
Those entities would now be required to register with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The bill also directs the CFTC and Treasury Department to write specific rules around them.
DeFi provisions in the bill have been narrowed to apply only to spot and cash digital commodity transactions. Lummis said this was meant to ease concerns from tribal governments about the bill’s potential impact on prediction markets.
Credit union rules around crypto activities were also clarified in the new version.
The Ethics Problem
Despite the changes, the bill still faces a major obstacle. Democrats say the ethics section does not go far enough.
The current ethics language bars public officials and their spouses from issuing or sponsoring digital assets, with enforcement handled by the Justice Department. It is set to expire in January 2029.
Democrats have said that language is insufficient. The concern centers on President Donald Trump’s growing crypto holdings, which are linked to World Liberty Financial and his TRUMP memecoin, now valued at hundreds of millions of dollars.
Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican, told Semafor earlier this week that the White House still needs to engage on a bipartisan ethics proposal.
White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt urged all senators to vote yes on the procedural motion and let the legislative process continue.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent also pushed lawmakers to advance the bill, writing on X that failing to do so would signal that America is unwilling to lead on digital assets.
The American Bankers Association and 77 state banking associations sent a letter to lawmakers this week calling for tighter restrictions on stablecoin rewards.
Lummis, who is leaving Congress in January 2027, has been pushing hard for the bill. She argued that without the Clarity Act, the CFTC and SEC will write their own digital asset rules anyway.
The September 15 vote will be the first real test of whether the bill has the support it needs.
