Clarity Act Stalls Further as Seven GOP Senators Back Bank-Friendly Stablecoin Yield Curbs

Since the Senate voted 49-50 against advancing the Clarity Act on September 15, 2026, the bill's problems have multiplied. Seven Republican senators have thrown their support behind a bank-backed measure to restrict stablecoin yield payments, according to Crypto Briefing and KuCoin. That move adds a new fault line inside the GOP on top of the Democratic opposition that sank the bill last week.

The Clarity Act needed 60 votes to break a filibuster and open floor debate. It got 49. All Senate Democrats voted no, joined by four Republicans, according to CBS News. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) switched his vote from yes to no at the last moment, according to the Epoch Times.

What the bill would actually do

The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act would split crypto oversight between the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to CBS News, which reported Senate Majority Leader John Thune's argument that the bill was the "next logical step" after last year's Genius Act stablecoin law. It would also register digital commodity exchanges, brokers and dealers, and shield software developers from federal money-transmission rules under the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, according to the Bitcoin Foundation and Sen. Lummis's own office.

Sponsors Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), John Boozman (R-Ark.) and Tim Scott (R-S.C.) released a 635-page final text on September 14, incorporating 126 changes requested by Democrats over more than a year of talks, according to Lummis's Senate website. Lummis said President Trump "voluntarily agreed to unprecedented ethics restrictions."

The ethics fight that sank it

Democrats say that's not enough. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) told the Senate floor the bill "would turbocharge Donald Trump's unprecedented corruption," arguing no one benefits more personally from the legislation than the president himself, according to CBS News. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said his no vote came down to the fact that "it allows the corruption of the president to continue," according to Fox News.

Trump's disclosed income jumped roughly 250%, from about $620 million to about $2.2 billion between 2024 and 2025, according to financial disclosure forms reviewed by Fox News Digital, with the increase largely tied to crypto ventures run by his sons Don Jr. and Eric.

Republicans point out the final text includes ethics language reflecting "substantially all" of a proposal from Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), which would require elected officials, federal judges and their spouses to divest or place large crypto holdings in a blind trust, according to the Bitcoin Foundation. It also gives state attorneys general enforcement authority, a provision Lummis said Trump personally endorsed. Gallego told Fox News Digital negotiations on strengthening that language were "getting very, very close" before a Banking Committee staffer for Scott abruptly ended talks, saying "negotiations are over." Whether that account is accurate is disputed only by omission. No senator on Scott's side has publicly countered Gallego's version in the available record.

Now banks are splitting Republicans too

Banks have told lawmakers they can't support the bill unless it curbs interest-style stablecoin payouts, warning those yields could pull deposits out of traditional banks and into crypto accounts, according to the Epoch Times. The final text responded with a Treasury Secretary "circuit breaker" power to prevent deposit flight, which sponsors describe as protection for community banks, according to Lummis's office.

Crypto industry representatives counter that broad limitations on stablecoin yield would have a chilling effect on legitimate platform incentives, according to the Bitcoin Foundation. Seven Republican senators have now sided with the banks' position on yield restrictions, according to Crypto Briefing. This split didn't exist when the bill failed on September 15 and makes the GOP's own path to 53 votes murkier before Democrats even enter the picture.

Where it stands

Lummis told reporters after the September 15 vote, "I think we're done. It's over," and said flatly the bill would not return to the floor, according to Fox News. A motion to reconsider remains technically pending, according to Crypto Briefing. Senate Banking Chairman Tim Scott and Majority Leader Thune have not announced a new timeline. With midterm-related legislation piling up on the Senate calendar and the GOP now divided over stablecoin yields on top of the unresolved Trump ethics dispute, whether the Clarity Act gets a second floor vote before the midterms is an open question none of the bill's sponsors have answered.