The U.S. House advances the “CLARITY Act” to lobby Wall Street! 7/17 in New York: a hearing to rally votes for the Senate to vote on it

The Digital Assets Subcommittee under the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services will hold an in-person hearing in New York on Friday, July 17, with the theme “Building the Future of Finance: How the CLARITY Act Unlocks Innovation,” bringing in representatives from Nova Labs, Bullish, WisdomTree, and Coin Center to testify. The committee is not meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., but instead chooses to convene on Wall Street—and the timing is right in the Senate’s final countdown to a vote. It has been interpreted as a “closing argument” ahead of the bill’s vote.
(Background: The White House says a crypto market-structure bill will be advanced in June, with a vote as early as August; moral provisions are key to passage.)
(Additional background: The U.S. intends to require a 20-year lockup for “strategic Bitcoin reserves.” BTC can strengthen U.S. financial leadership and consolidate dollar dominance.)

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• The hearing is deliberately held on Wall Street
• Two bills are put on the table together
• In the Senate countdown, 7 Democratic votes are the gate

Key Highlights

• The House Committee on Financial Services will hold an in-person hearing in New York on July 17 to push the CLARITY Act with the Senate.
• Representatives from Nova Labs, Bullish, WisdomTree, and Coin Center will attend, focusing on how the bill can unlock innovation.
• The bill is already scheduled on the Senate calendar as Calendar No. 423. It must secure 7 additional Democratic votes to break the 60-vote threshold, with August 7 becoming the effective deadline.

This time, the committee is not meeting in Washington, D.C. Under the House Committee on Financial Services, the Digital Assets, Financial Technology and Artificial Intelligence Subcommittee has chosen New York as the location for a 10:00 a.m. hearing on Friday, July 17. The theme is “Building the Future of Finance: How the CLARITY Act Unlocks Innovation.” By holding the hearing on Wall Street rather than Capitol Hill, it sends a clear signal: members want to deliver their message directly to exchanges, banks, asset management firms, and custodians—those who will actually operate under this framework.

The witness lineup is also built around this positioning, including Sarah Aberg, Chief Legal Officer of Nova Labs, a Helium network developer; Randi Abernethy, Chief Settlements and Group Risk Officer at the crypto exchange Bullish; Ryan Louvar, Chief Legal Officer at asset manager WisdomTree; and Jason Somensatto, Policy Director of the crypto policy research organization Coin Center. With four roles—exchange, asset management, infrastructure, and policy research—at the same witness table, they effectively lay out the idea of “clear rules that let people act.”

The hearing is deliberately held on Wall Street

This is an in-person hearing (a field hearing), different from the typical hearings conducted in committee meeting rooms. By choosing New York, lawmakers are aiming the discussion on the CLARITY Act directly at the institutions that truly plan to operate under this framework.

Industry witnesses are expected to focus on a point like this: once the rules are clear, the digital-asset products they have long been reluctant to launch due to unclear regulation may finally have the chance to come to market. This is also the main thread of the hearing—packaging the CLARITY Act as a story of U.S. innovation, jobs, and competitiveness, rather than just a technical regulatory debate.

Two bills are put on the table together

In addition to the CLARITY Act itself, this hearing will also address two pieces of legislation.

One is H.Res. 111, “Supporting Blockchain Technology and Digital Assets,” a resolution introduced in February 2025 by Representatives Dusty Johnson and Bryan Steil. It calls on the U.S. to set frameworks for digital assets early; otherwise, related technologies and companies will move to countries with more permissive regulation.

The other is H.R. 8957, the “American Reserve Modernization Act,” introduced in May by Representative Nick Begich together with Jared Golden. It proposes establishing a “strategic Bitcoin reserve” and a “digital asset reserve vault” under the Treasury Department, requiring a minimum 20-year lockup for Bitcoin, and requiring that a Proof of Reserve be published each quarter. This hearing is meant to rally support for a market-structure bill, but it also brings in the issue of a national-level Bitcoin reserve—two matters whose political momentum reinforces each other.

In the Senate countdown, 7 Democratic votes are the gate

The core of the CLARITY Act (full name: “Digital Asset Market Clarity Act,” H.R. 3633) is to categorize digital assets: “digital commodities” such as Bitcoin and Ethereum are placed under the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), while assets with characteristics of investment contracts are left to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In between, a “maturity test” is used to determine which regulator a given asset falls under.

The bill has already passed the House and cleared the Senate Banking Committee. It has been placed on the Senate legislative schedule, Calendar No. 423, and all that remains is the full-chamber vote. The sticking point is votes: Senate Republicans are ahead 53 to 47, but to overcome the prolonged debate via the filibuster requires 60 votes—meaning at least 7 Democratic senators must support it.

Cynthia Lummis, a leading Republican on crypto policy in the Senate, has already indicated she is open to voting, making a vote before the August recess more realistic than it was before July 4. The Senate’s first week of August is still in session, and afterward it does not return until September 14. As a result, August 7 is viewed as the effective deadline for the bill’s momentum this year. This New York hearing is scheduled to arrive at exactly that moment—its timing is very deliberate.

In other words, every sentence spoken on Wall Street on July 17 is, in reality, being listened to by the Senate back in Washington. Whether the bill can secure those crucial 7 votes in time before the August recess will be decided in the coming two weeks—we’ll continue to follow developments.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the “CLARITY Act”?

The full name is the “Digital Asset Market Clarity Act” (H.R. 3633). It categorizes digital assets: digital commodities such as Bitcoin and Ethereum fall under CFTC oversight, while investment-contract-type assets fall under the SEC. It has passed the House and is currently awaiting a full Senate vote.

Why is this New York hearing important?

The hearing is intentionally scheduled on Wall Street instead of Washington, D.C., to build momentum for the bill before the Senate recess in August. If the vote cannot be completed by August 7, momentum to advance the bill in 2026 may be disrupted until after September.