CLARITY Act Stalls at 52-47: Tillis, Gallego Send Ethics Fix to Reach 60 Votes
Senators submit revised ethics language for the crypto market structure bill as the GOP's 52-47 Senate edge falls short of the 60-vote threshold.
Senators Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) have sent the White House a revised set of ethics provisions for the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act, according to a Thursday PunchBowl report, in a last push to unlock the 60 votes needed to pass the crypto market structure bill before the Senate’s month-long August recess.
Republicans currently hold an effective 52-47 majority in the Senate, with Senator Mitch McConnell absent for medical reasons. That leaves the GOP eight votes short of the 60-vote supermajority required to overcome a filibuster and pass the bill, forcing negotiators to court Democratic support directly.
What the ethics counteroffer changes
The bipartisan counteroffer reportedly revises how the bill polices conflicts of interest tied to federal officials profiting from crypto. Under the new language, enforcement of a ban on federal officials issuing or sponsoring tokens would shift to state authorities rather than resting solely with the US Attorney General.
That shift is aimed squarely at Democratic objections. Gallego has said provisions covering ethics, consumer protection, illicit finance, conflicts of interest and market integrity “must be strengthened,” adding he would keep working with Republicans to get the bill “over the finish line.”
Why Democrats are holding out
Many Senate Democrats have publicly said they will not back the CLARITY Act “if it protects Trump’s dominance over an industry that he will have more control to regulate,” a reference to the president’s personal ties to digital-asset ventures. The ethics rewrite is a direct attempt to neutralize that argument by moving enforcement authority away from a Trump-appointed Attorney General.
Cointelegraph said it reached out to both Tillis’ and Gallego’s offices for confirmation of the changes but had not received a response at the time of publication.
Why this matters for the industry
The CLARITY Act is the crypto industry’s best current shot at a comprehensive federal market structure framework, one that would settle long-running jurisdictional disputes between the SEC and CFTC over which digital assets count as securities versus commodities. Every week the bill stalls in the Senate pushes final passage closer to, or past, the chamber’s recess, with lawmakers and industry watchers already warning that missing this window could delay a vote for years.
For traders and builders, the math is simple: 8 votes stand between the current draft and a law that could reshape US crypto compliance obligations. Whether the Tillis-Gallego ethics compromise closes that gap will likely determine if market structure legislation clears the Senate this year or slips into the next legislative calendar.
Read more: Clarity Act Vote Slips Past September, Next Window May Not Open Until 2029
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