The Senate Banking Committee advanced the CLARITY Act on May 14, 2026 by a vote of 15 to 9 during a formal markup hearing. Democratic Senators Ruben Gallego of Arizona and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland joined every Republican on the panel to send the bill out of committee.
The vote is the furthest the market‑structure legislation has advanced in the Senate. It clears the way for placement on the Legislative Calendar under General Orders — the procedural step that makes the bill eligible for full floor consideration.
What the bill actually does
CLARITY divides jurisdiction between the SEC and the CFTC by defining a class of digital commodities that fall under CFTC oversight once a network is “sufficiently decentralized”. Tokens that do not meet that test remain within SEC jurisdiction.
It also codifies a self‑custody carve‑out, sets registration paths for digital‑asset intermediaries, and creates an anti‑fraud role for the CFTC on secondary spot markets — an authority the agency does not currently hold.
What comes next
On June 1, 2026 the bill was placed on the Senate Legislative Calendar. Coverage from The Hill and CoinDesk in mid‑June flagged that at least four procedural boxes still need to be checked before a floor vote, and that the timeline for approval before Congress’s August recess was tightening. As of publication no floor vote has been scheduled.
