Key Highlights

  • The Senate Banking Committee published the full 309-page text of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act on May 11, with a markup vote scheduled for May 14 at 10:30 a.m. ET, the first Senate committee consideration of a complete crypto market structure bill.

  • The bill's stablecoin compromise bans passive yield on idle holdings but permits activity-based rewards tied to actual platform use, a provision the three largest U.S. banking trade groups rejected days before the vote.

  • A committee approval would mark a historic first for U.S. crypto legislation, though the bill still needs 60 Senate floor votes, reconciliation with separate Agriculture Committee text, and alignment with the House version before it can reach the President.

The Senate Banking Committee released the complete text of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act of 2025 on May 11, two days before the panel's scheduled executive session. The markup vote is set for May 14 at 10:30 a.m. This would be the first time a Senate committee has voted on a comprehensive crypto market structure framework, a milestone that has eluded the industry through multiple sessions of Congress.

The 309-page bill draws a regulatory boundary between the SEC and CFTC that the industry has pushed for over several years. Digital assets that qualify as securities remain under SEC oversight, while digital commodities and spot crypto markets shift to CFTC authority. The draft also covers platform registration requirements, disclosure obligations across the token lifecycle, and protections for non-custodial software developers.

The bill's sharpest political fault line heading into the vote is stablecoins. A compromise reached by Senators Thom Tillis and Angela Alsobrooks bans passive yield on idle stablecoin balances while allowing activity-based rewards tied to transactions or platform usage. The three largest U.S. banking trade groups formally rejected that deal on May 9, arguing that interest-like stablecoin returns would pull deposits away from regulated banks.

Even a successful committee vote leaves significant ground to cover. The bill needs at least 60 votes to advance through the full Senate, must be reconciled with CFTC-focused legislation advancing through the Senate Agriculture Committee, and has to align with the House version passed in July 2025 before it can reach the President. The White House has set a July 4 signing target, though meeting that timeline depends on each of those steps moving without further delay.