Latest Developments in the CLARITY Act: Over a Hundred Amendments Intensify Pressure, DeFi Protection Disagreements Remain Difficult to Bridge

ME News Report, May 14 (UTC+8), as the U.S. Senate Banking Committee is set to review the “Cryptocurrency Market Structure Act” (also known as the CLARITY Act) today, opposing sides are presenting starkly different positions. Led by long-time anti-cryptocurrency senator Elizabeth Warren, Democratic senators have densely proposed over 100 amendments, aiming to target the core DeFi protection clauses in the bill. The amendments seek to modify provisions including the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act (BRCA), protections for non-controlled software developers, DeFi frontend protections, tokenization-related clauses, and significantly expand the BSA/AML obligations for developers and digital asset firms. The DeFi advocacy organization DeFi Education Fund (DEF) has not remained passive; it has called on supporters to immediately lobby senators to firmly oppose the bill before the committee’s review.

Ahead of today’s formal committee review, negotiations among a small bipartisan working group have yet to reach an agreement. Republican lead negotiator Senator Lummis stated that the parties have reached consensus on 99% of the bill’s content and hope to push the committee to pass the bill first, with the remaining 1% of disagreements to be resolved later. Previously, Democrats insisted that the moral and conflict-of-interest clauses involving the “First Family” (the President’s family) be a prerequisite for supporting the bill, and also raised objections to provisions exempting non-custodial software developers from prosecution under money transmission laws.

It is expected that tonight’s (Beijing time) Senate Banking Committee review will proceed along party lines, with the final voting stance of five pro-cryptocurrency Democratic senators still unclear.

However, the crypto community generally remains optimistic about the bill’s progress. Michael Saylor directly stated that the CLARITY Act will usher in the next wave of digital capital, digital credit, and digital equity in the U.S. and globally. Aave founder Stani commented that the CLARITY Act is crucial for DeFi, providing developers with confidence and protection, and that its passage could create a windfall effect similar to what the GENIUS Act did for stablecoins. (Source: BlockBeats)