On Thursday, May 14, the US Senate Banking Committee voted 15-9 to advance the Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act, the comprehensive market structure bill that establishes regulatory boundaries between the SEC and the CFTC regarding digital assets. The vote followed hours of partisan wrangling over the amendments, with Speaker Tim Scott (R-SC) securing a bipartisan margin through procedural concessions. Bitcoin rose from $79,600 to around $81,980 within an hour of the result being announced, while 24-hour trading volume climbed 22.29% to $40.31 billion.
A bipartisan 15-9 vote sends the bill to the full Senate
The bill drew bipartisan support after Scott agreed to allow a number of additional amendments during the review process. The commission considered over 100 amendments submitted during the session, most of which were rejected by strictly party votes. Notable results:
AI sandbox patch proposed by Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD) passed 15-9 with bipartisan support, allowing experimental regulatory environments for AI-based crypto tools.
Amendment regarding the disclosure of banking supervision related to the Epstein period, introduced by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), failed 11-13, with Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) indicating he would support an amended version.
The stablecoin yield trade-off remained intact: issuers are prohibited from paying interest only for holding stablecoins, but user incentives related to associated activities remain permitted. The structural disagreements that had stalled the project since January centered on jurisdictional clarity between the SEC and the CFTC, protections for consumers and developers, and the issue of stablecoin returns. The May 14 text included a compromise on the yield issue publicly supported by crypto firms earlier in the month.
Two Democrats cross the party line: Warner and Alsobrooks
The two Democrats who voted in favor were Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) and Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD). Several other Democrats have indicated they are reserving final judgment until the law enforcement and ethics provisions are addressed in the next step. The bipartisan margin matters operationally: A 15-9 vote in committee signals enough support in the full Senate to reach the 60-vote threshold needed to overcome a filibuster if the current alignment holds.
WATCH: Chairman @SenatorTimScott leads the Senate Banking Committee in a historic markup of the CLARITY Act, legislation to establish clear rules of the road for digital assets. https://t.co/wlHj2jcAEF
— U.S. Senate Banking Committee GOP (@BankingGOP) May 14, 2026
Bitcoin recovers $2,000 within minutes of announcement
The market reaction was immediate. Bitcoin was trading around $79,600 earlier in the session after falling below the psychological $80,000 threshold based on April CPI data released Thursday morning. The result of the vote changed sentiment in about 90 minutes: BTC bounced back to $80,000, then $81,000, and was trading around $81,980 at the time of writing.
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The full Senate vote follows, with a White House target for July 4
The CLARITY Act now advances to a full Senate floor vote. The Senate Agriculture Committee’s companion legislation, the Digital Commodity Intermediaries Act (DCIA), passed in January 12-11 along party lines. The two projects must be joined before a joint vote in the plenary. If passed by the Senate, the bill returns to the House, which approved an earlier version of the law in July 2025. The White House has indicated July 4, 2026 as the target date for signing the law. That timeline depends on Majority Leader John Thune’s scheduling of a floor vote and whether House Republicans accept the Senate stablecoin yield compromise without further changes. Industry leaders have publicly touted this milestone as the Senate’s most important crypto market structure action of 2026.