The CLARITY Act Is Down to Its Final Weeks — Solana Institute President Says the Deal Is Still Possible

The CLARITY Act’s final stretch is underway. Last week’s White House meeting between President Trump and Republican senators failed to produce the bill text, and the August 7 Senate recess deadline is now less than three weeks away. 

But Solana Institute President Kristin Smith posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday that negotiations are still moving, with the belief that a breakthrough is within reach this week.

Solana Institute President Says Common Ground Exists 

Smith described the bill as the most comprehensive crypto market-structure framework she has seen, pointing to strengthened illicit-finance provisions, consumer protections, expanded oversight of spot exchanges, and bipartisan input throughout the drafting process. 

For the first time, she said, crypto platforms would operate under a full federal rulebook — covering registration, custody standards, and disclosure requirements. “The last big piece is ethics,” she wrote.

1/ It’s crunch time for Clarity.

Negotiations are moving and the August recess is just weeks away.

Here’s where things stand – and why I still believe we can get this done.

🧵

— Kristin Smith (@KristinSmith) July 20, 2026

That ethics provision has been the most politically charged obstacle blocking the CLARITY Act from a Senate floor vote for weeks. Democrats including Senator Ruben Gallego and Senator Angela Alsobrooks  — the two Democratic votes the bill needs most — have made enforceable ethics language a condition of their support. 

The demand intensified after President Trump’s 2025 financial disclosure revealed more than $1.4 billion in crypto-related income, including hundreds of millions tied to the TRUMP memecoin and World Liberty Financial. 

Senator Elizabeth Warren has separately called on Trump to voluntarily release an updated financial disclosure covering income through July 15, 2026, by July 23.

Smith addressed the CLARITY Act’s ethics question directly, noting that whatever language is agreed upon will apply not just to the president but to all members of Congress — making it a universal standard rather than a targeted restriction. 

“The White House joined discussions last week on ethics language,” she wrote. “There is common ground here, and I’m optimistic we will reach it in the coming days.”

The CLARITY Act Could Be Decided This Week 

Beyond the CLARITY Act’s ethics provision, two other disputes remain unresolved. The stablecoin yield provision — which 78 banking groups warned could allow stablecoins to function as deposit substitutes and drain community banks — has not been settled. 

The Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act (BRCA) provision, which shields non-custodial software developers from being classified as money transmitters, remains a sticking point despite three law enforcement organizations — NOBLE, FLEOA, and the Major County Sheriffs of America — shifting their stance toward the bill this month.

However, the optimism is not limited to Smith. House Subcommittee Chairman Bryan Steil told Fox Business last Friday that he believes the Senate could bring the crypto market structure bill to the floor as early as this week. 

Analyst Michaël van de Poppe made a similar call over the weekend, arguing that decentralized finance (DeFi) token movements and Ethereum’s (ETH) outperformance of Bitcoin (BTC) were already signaling that markets were pricing in a potential approval this week. 

Smith made the broader case for why the urgency matters. She cited 67 million Americans who own and use crypto today without any clear federal rules governing the platforms they use. 

She further asserted that the CLARITY Act’s passage would bring institutional adoption, lower costs, faster transactions, and keep builders in the United States rather than pushing development offshore. “We have spent years getting to this point,” she wrote. “The pieces are in place. The work is happening.”

Ultimately, whatever happens this week will go a long way toward determining whether the CLARITY Act reaches the president’s desk in 2026 or waits for the next Congress.

Featured image generated with OpenArt.