Senator Cynthia Lummis has released an updated version of the framework bill on the structure of the cryptocurrency market (CLARITY) ahead of the vote on September 15, 2026. According to her, the document includes more than 100 amendments proposed by Democrats. The CLARITY Act is a comprehensive bill that defines the rights and responsibilities of both cryptocurrency market participants and regulators, and is intended to establish the concept of a digital asset and its classification.
The bill has been in limbo since mid-May 2026. It received approval at the level of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, after which it was supposed to be put to a general vote. It was expected to happen before the Congressional recess in August, but the consideration of the bill was postponed. On September 15, 2026, according to the schedule on the official website, a procedural vote will take place, paving the way for the bill's approval.
"At the request of my Democratic colleagues, we have included more than 114 individual provisions, and as a result, this bill is a strong outcome of bipartisan support. Unlike rulemaking, legislation gives this industry a long-term solution that protects it from abrupt changes in the White House," Lummis stated.
The new draft contains 630 pages; the version from the end of July 2026 is set out on 616. Among the amendments, the following can be highlighted: if a DeFi project is actually controlled by a specific company or group of individuals, it may be required to register with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC); protection for DeFi has been narrowed only to regular spot trading of digital goods with immediate settlement – including to ensure the law does not inadvertently affect prediction markets; the CFTC retains the right to pursue fraud and market manipulation, even if the DeFi project's activities fall under the statutory exceptions; states will be limited in their ability to introduce their own rules for some DeFi activities; the document includes additional safeguards to prevent the CFTC from gaining too broad powers; the presence of a Security Council or Advisory Board in a project does not in itself make it centralized; some protective provisions will also apply to past activities; for credit unions, working with digital assets has been simplified.
The most important change for DeFi overall is the attempt to distinguish truly decentralized projects from services that only claim to be decentralized. If no one actually controls the protocol, the law tries not to impose requirements on software developers as it would on a regular financial company. However, if a specific company or group is behind the service, managing trading, asset storage, or transaction execution, they may be subject to regular financial regulation requirements, including those outlined in the Bank Secrecy Act.
At the same time, the document does not include so-called ethical amendments – one of the key demands of Democrats, who insist on limiting the ability of top state officials and high-ranking politicians to profit from the crypto business. The absence of ethical amendments was also noted by Eleanor Terrett and Brendan Pedersen from Punchbowl News. The latter stated that in its current format, the bill cannot be called bipartisan.