TLDR
- Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse warned the CLARITY Act must advance in the next two weeks or its chances of passing will drop sharply
- The bill would regulate crypto at the federal level, splitting oversight between the SEC and CFTC
- The Senate Banking Committee has been deadlocked over whether stablecoins should be allowed to offer yield
- Senators Tillis and Alsobrooks reached a compromise on stablecoin yield last week, but major banking groups say it doesn’t go far enough
- Garlinghouse said if the bill gets caught up in midterm election season, it could be shelved for close to a year
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse says the window to pass major US crypto legislation is closing fast. Speaking at the Consensus conference in Miami on May 5, he said Congress needs to act now or the opportunity may be gone for months.
LATEST: ⚡ Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse says the US crypto market structure bill has two weeks to advance before its chances of passing drop sharply. https://t.co/uWHMzpfIiM pic.twitter.com/d0lH3HAEcx
— CoinMarketCap (@CoinMarketCap) May 6, 2026
The legislation at the center of his warning is the CLARITY Act. It would be the first federal law to regulate the cryptocurrency industry in the US, dividing oversight responsibilities between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
The House passed the bill in July 2025. The Senate has been where progress stalled.
To reach a full Senate vote, the bill must clear two committees: the Senate Agriculture Committee and the Senate Banking Committee. The agriculture committee approved its version in January 2026. The banking committee has been stuck.
The Stablecoin Sticking Point
The main dispute has been over stablecoins and whether they should be allowed to pay yield to holders. Last week, Senators Thom Tillis and Angela Alsobrooks announced a compromise on that issue.
The draft compromise bans rewards on passive stablecoin holdings that work like deposit interest. It does allow rewards tied to activities like trading, transactions, or staking.
But major US banking groups are not satisfied. In a joint statement on May 4, the American Bankers Association and the Bank Policy Institute said the compromise language still leaves room for crypto platforms to offer deposit-like returns through membership programs or balance-based incentives.
“The proposed language falls short of that goal,” the groups said.
Garlinghouse acknowledged the bill is not perfect. “I challenge you to show me any piece of legislation that we would call perfect,” he said. “There’s tradeoffs and compromises, but I do think clarity is better than chaos.”
The Midterm Problem
The clock is ticking for a specific reason: the 2026 midterm elections. Primaries are already underway, and the general election is in November.
Garlinghouse said if the Senate Banking Committee does not hold a markup hearing within the next two weeks, the bill’s chances drop sharply. Once the campaign season takes over, lawmakers are unlikely to spend political capital on complex legislation.
“If it gets into midterms, it’s going to be too much of a loaded issue,” he said. “Post-elections in the fall, I think the likelihood that it gets picked up is even lower.”
Senator Cynthia Lummis, a member of the banking committee, posted on X on May 6 that the CLARITY Act “is the priority” and called on the Senate to act.
The SEC and CFTC signed a memorandum of understanding in March to coordinate crypto oversight, but both agencies are waiting on Congress to pass formal legislation before making major rule changes.
