The CLARITY Act is expected to release its draft this week, with a hearing and vote scheduled for next week.

On December 10, New York Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand and Wyoming Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis introduced the direction the U.S. Congress will take toward comprehensive regulation of the cryptocurrency industry at the Blockchain Association Policy Summit in Washington, D.C. Cynthia Lummis stated that the goal is to release the draft CLARITY Act (Market Structure Bill) by the end of this week, with a hearing to be held next week for amendments and a vote on the bill. Democrats and Republicans are continuing negotiations, with the first bipartisan meeting held last week, and progress has been very smooth. “There is nothing standing in the way of this bill.” For years, Congress has tried to advance broader cryptocurrency market structure legislation, but progress has been slow. This summer, the House of Representatives passed its version of the Digital Asset Market Structure Clarity Act (referred to as Clarity) in July, giving new momentum to legislation. The Senate has since begun working on similar bills. The Senate Banking Committee already has a draft aimed at clarifying regulatory authority between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), and creating a new term, “ancillary assets,” to clarify which cryptocurrencies are not considered securities. Meanwhile, the Senate Agriculture Committee also released its draft bill last month, which proposes granting the CFTC more new powers.