Schwab Calls CLARITY Act a 'Fundamental Catalyst' as Thune and White House Split on Timing

Charles Schwab, the brokerage giant overseeing roughly $13 trillion in client assets, is calling the CLARITY Act a "really important fundamental catalyst" that "needs to pass."

The endorsement comes as Schwab itself has become a direct market participant. The firm rolled out Schwab Crypto this year, letting clients buy bitcoin and ether directly at 75 basis points per trade. The rollout expanded from employees to waitlisted clients and eventually all eligible accounts across 48 states.

That expansion gives Schwab a tangible stake in how Washington resolves crypto market structure. The Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act, which would split oversight of digital assets between the SEC and the CFTC, passed the Senate Banking Committee by a 15-9 vote on May 14.

Schwab's confidence is not universally shared inside Washington. Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters this week the CLARITY Act is expected to miss its window before Congress's summer break. "I would like to at least get Clarity started. We'll see where the votes are," Thune said.

Patrick Witt, executive director of the White House Crypto Council, pushed back on that pessimism. He called himself "slightly more optimistic" than Thune. "There's that first week of August that the Senate is in session," Witt said, arguing a floor vote could still happen before lawmakers leave town.

Witt has been personally invested in the outcome. He reportedly deferred his Army National Guard training obligations to remain at the White House as negotiations over the bill's ethics provisions dragged on.

The gap between Thune's and Witt's read on the calendar traces back to unresolved fights. Chief among them are government ethics provisions that would limit senior officials' personal crypto holdings, along with disagreements over how stablecoin yield should be treated under the new framework.

Senator Cynthia Lummis has indicated those sections remain open for revision in ways that could still win Democratic support. The Senate's floor calendar is not helping. Leadership prioritized a bipartisan Russia sanctions and tariffs package for next week, pushing CLARITY further down the queue.

The White House did manage one breakthrough. Officials agreed on an ethics deal and shared its terms with Senate Republicans on July 20-21. Thune had committed to bringing the bill to the floor before recess with the week of July 20 as an active target. Based on Thune's latest comments, that deadline appears to have already slipped.

Lawmakers were urged to vote before the recess when they returned from a prior break on July 13. If Thune cannot find floor time this week, the bill's next realistic shot is September's three-week Senate session. That delay would extend the CLARITY Act's now year-plus wait for a floor vote despite broad institutional backing from firms like Schwab and near-constant White House engagement from Witt's team.

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon also urged lawmakers to advance the CLARITY Act as senators circulated a revised crypto market structure bill. Schwab's Alpha Score sits at 58 out of 100, labeled Moderate. Goldman Sachs holds a 50 out of 100, labeled Mixed.