A vote on the long-awaited Clarity Act will be delayed until September as lawmakers go on recess today.
As first reported by POLITICO, citing comments from Majority Leader John Thune, the vote on the landmark bill will now have to wait until lawmakers return from August recess.
Bipartisan work has gone into the Clarity Act, which was passed by the House of Representatives last year, but some Republicans have accused Democrats of stalling the bill.
“The Dems insisted on no Clarity vote,” Thune was quoted telling reporters Thursday evening. “We’re getting that queued up first thing [when] we come back in September.”
The Clarity Act started small but its text was beefed up over the past year — mainly because of Democrats, according to some lawmakers like Senator Cynthia Lummis.
While stuck in a deadlock for a lot of 2026 due to banking lobby chiefs locking horns with crypto exchanges over concerns about stablecoin yield, Democrats also wanted more work on the ethics side of the bill.
President Donald Trump campaigned on a ticket to help the crypto space but some Washington lawmakers have criticized the way the Trump family has profited from digital asset ventures, such as the President’s memecoin, $TRUMP, and World Liberty Financial project.
Trump and the White House have always denied any conflicts of interest.
Speaking in an interview with Punchbowl News Friday about the Clarity Act and ethics, President Trump pointed out the Democrats have also made money from stock trading.
“They want a bill, and in the bill they want me to be different to everyone else,” he said.
He added that getting the bill over the line was important because the U.S. should take the lead over China when it comes to crypto and AI.
He continued: “You see people paying with Bitcoin and they don’t even know about cash anymore.”
The latest draft of the Clarity Act contains language — drafted by Democrats and Republicans — banning government officials from promoting or making money from crypto. It started circulating in July.
Still, Democrats like Senator Elizabeth Warren, who has from the beginning criticized the Clarity Act, have claimed that new legislation will benefit the president and his family.
Major financial institutions — not just crypto companies — have backed the bill, including Goldman Sachs and Fidelity, as well as law enforcement groups.