Why Lummis Says the CLARITY Fight Is Not Over

The legislation would treat covered customer cash and crypto as customer property, require segregation from company assets, and address ownership disputes highlighted by the Celsius bankruptcy, where roughly 600,000 Earn accounts held about $4.2 billion when proceedings began. That provision is one of the bill’s most direct financial protections for people holding digital assets through intermediaries.

The Senate Banking Committee advanced the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025 by a 15-9 vote on May 14. Lummis released updated text on July 22 that combined work from the Banking and Agriculture committees, merging separate strands of the Senate’s digital asset market-structure effort. The House approved its version more than a year ago.

A new Senate Banking Committee minority staff analysis renews Democratic objections that the bill preserves pathways for crypto firms to avoid full securities registration. Lummis has said the latest text addresses those concerns after 11 months of negotiations that produced more than 300 pages of Democratic-requested changes, including provisions on CFTC jurisdiction, law enforcement measures, and ethics rules for senior federal officials.

Lummis has warned that if the bill fails this session, the next realistic opportunity could slip toward 2030, leaving consumers, developers, exchanges, and enforcement authorities under the existing federal structure for years. “I will continue working with my colleagues to get this done,” she said. “This fight is far from over.”

With the August recess now underway, the focus shifts to whether Lummis can turn months of negotiations into broader Senate support when lawmakers return in September. The unresolved framework affects digital asset classification, registration requirements, federal oversight, and the operating environment for exchanges, developers, asset managers, and financial institutions.