Written by Turner Wright, Staff Writer. Reviewed by Robert Lakin, Staff Editor.
Written by Turner Wright, Staff Writer.
Reviewed by Robert Lakin, Staff Editor.
US senator says crypto market structure vote may happen by August
Latest NewsPublishedMay 6, 2026
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand stated the Senate must address lawmakers potentially getting “rich off of these industries because of their insider status“ before any vote on the CLARITY Act.
US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand stated lawmakers must address ethics, consumer protection and illicit finance concerns before the Senate can vote on crypto market structure legislation.
Speaking at the Consensus conference in Miami on Wednesday, Gillibrand stated she considered addressing consumer protection, illicit finance and ethics provisions essential before any potential vote on the CLARITY Act.
She stated that if Congress were to consider those issues, as well as combine the draft of the market structure bill with the version already passed in the Senate Agriculture Committee and ensure ethics language, lawmakers could have a vote “before the August recess,” which begins Aug. 10.
“There will be no one voting for this bill if we don’t have an ethics provision,” stated Gillibrand. “Because the truth is, is that we cannot allow members of Congress, senior administration officials, presidents or vice presidents, to get rich off of these industries because of their insider status. It is the worst form of pay for play.”
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand speaking on Wednesday. Source: Cointelegraph
Although Gillibrand did not explicitly mention US President Donald Trump by name, his ties to the crypto industry, through the launch of his memecoin, his family’s crypto business World Liberty Financial and other dealings with the industry have come under scrutiny as lawmakers consider the CLARITY Act.
Last week, senators on the banking committee revealed a deal on stablecoin yield which could allow the market structure bill to advance, but did not address language on public officials’ potential conflicts of interest.
Related: Americans distrust crypto, AI as industry super PACs flood midterms, poll finds
Crypto industry leaders and advocates have been weighing in on the market structure bill since the stablecoin yield compromise was revealed. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse stated on Tuesday that lawmakers likely needed to address the bill in the next two weeks before it became muddied by issues amid the US midterm elections.
“There’s a window of opportunity, and that’s always crucial that you act when you find that window of opportunity,” stated Summer Mersinger, a former commissioner at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and CEO of the Blockchain Association, in a separate panel on the market structure bill at Consensus on Wednesday.
“That doesn’t mean the window’s not going to open again. You just never know what’s going to happen in the intervening events that maybe will bring people back to this issue after August recess,” she stated.
Bill awaits markup in Senate Banking Committee
As of Wednesday, the Senate Banking Committee had not rescheduled a markup on the market structure bill after postponing the event in January. At the time, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong stated that the exchange could not support the legislation as written, leading to other crypto companies and advocates speaking out against certain provisions in the bill on decentralized finance, stablecoins and tokenized equities.
Traders on prediction markets platform Polymarket see a 65% chance of the CLARITY Act being signed into law by the end of 2026. On Kalshi, traders currently put the probability that the bill will become law before August at 49%.
Magazine: Guide to the top and emerging global crypto hubs: Mid-2026
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