TL;DR
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Sen. Thom Tillis announced the CLARITY Act markup will be scheduled in the Senate Banking Committee the week of May 11th
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Tillis said he's done waiting for the banks and is scheduling the markup as a "forcing mechanism"
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Stablecoin rewards remain the main sticking point, with DeFi developer criminal liability and ethics provisions still unresolved
Sen. Thom Tillis announced to reporters this week that the CLARITY Act markup will be scheduled in the Senate Banking Committee the week of May 11th. Time has been running out for the crypto market structure bill and the May 11th markup was seen by many as the last opportunity for it to have a chance to pass this year.
The North Carolina senator said that he’s done waiting for the banks and has decided to schedule the markup as a ”forcing mechanism”. The issue that has been holding up the banks’ approval has been stablecoin rewards. Crypto exchanges want the ability to pay activity based rewards for stablecoin holdings. Banks do not.
Progress on CLARITY had Stalled
Progress on the bill has stalled on the stablecoin rewards issue recently. Coinbase CLO, Paul Grewal recently spoke out about the contention surrounding the issue, saying
You can’t be for CLARITY and against rewards. It’s one or the other. Time to choose.
— Paul Grewal (@iampaulgrewal) April 21, 2026
Last weekend, president Trump stepped in to say that he won’t ”let bankers ruin the bill”.
But now, at least, it seems like it’ll get to the Senate Banking Committee before midterms, which was a crucial date. However, it gets there without wide support from all stakeholders, and isn’t a sure thing to pass.
In addition to the stablecoin rewards, stakeholders still disagree on whether DeFi developers can be charged criminally under the 1960s money transmitter law. Additionally, there are ethics provisions Tillis would like to see in the act. It would restrict how government officials can profit from cryptocurrencies. That language will, however, be added on the senate floor, rather than at the committee stage.
What’s Next
The week of May 11th is now the most important time for this act. The markup has been requested, but the senate banking committee still has to schedule it. If it's not on the docket then, 2030 may be the next realistic time.
At least the logjam has broken. It’s been passed on to the next stage. Remains to be seen whether this “forcing mechanism” puts enough pressure on the bill to make it pass. Polymarket currently has the act at a 59% chance of passing this year.
