The CLARITY Act faces an August summer recess deadline, with ethics provisions remaining the focus of bipartisan disagreement

July 17 — The U.S. CLARITY Act has entered its final sprint stage. Despite lawmakers generally holding an optimistic outlook, the ethical provisions surrounding the ethics of President Trump’s potential crypto-related conflicts of interest remain the biggest obstacle to passage of the bill.

Republican Congressman William Timmons said this is one of the president’s top priorities and also a shared agenda for both parties in Congress. “Even if there may be twists and turns along the way, we will definitely get it done.”

The revised version of the bill is expected to be released this week, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune also hopes that the bill’s text can be submitted to the full chamber for a vote before the August recess.

If the Senate passes a modified version of the bill, it would still need to return to the House for coordination, but the House will recess on July 24 and remain out until August 7, making the time window extremely tight.

Timmons also said that while this work may continue for the next few months, he added that lawmakers’ goal is to complete it before the November election.

On the ethics provisions, bipartisan negotiating representatives have spent months discussing the issue of limiting the president, vice president, members of Congress, and other senior officials from profiting from digital assets while in office.

However, media reports say the bill’s current text has not yet received support from Democrats. Arizona Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego was even more explicit, stating that there will be no Democratic votes without strong ethics provisions.

In addition, Summer Mersinger, CEO of the blockchain association, also referred to the ethics issue as a “key step,” noting that Democratic offices are firm in their stance, but she remains optimistic that the bill will ultimately be passed.

Separately, other associations are also pushing to incorporate rules for sports betting in prediction markets into the bill, but Mersinger warned that any such amendments could become a “poison pill” and undermine the bill’s overall prospects for passage.

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