The Senate Banking Committee cleared the CLARITY Act market‑structure bill on May 14, igniting a fierce partisan clash over the President’s cryptocurrency holdings and the legal definition of code as a money‑transmitter.
Committee Approval and Early Optimism
Senators voted 15‑9 to advance the CLARITY Act, with two Democrats breaking ranks to support the measure. The legislation was placed on the Senate Legislative Calendar on June 1, prompting prediction markets to price a 2026 passage at roughly 74 percent. Senator Cynthia Lummis, a chief architect of the bill, hailed the vote as the most consequential Senate action on crypto regulation to date.
Market Sentiment Reverses and New Opposition
By mid‑June, Polymarket’s odds slipped to about 48 percent, a 26‑point drop that turned the prospect of enactment into a coin‑flip. A tweet