Cynthia Lummis

Senator Cynthia Lummis detailed next steps for the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act. The bill, which passed a House committee with bipartisan support, is set to receive a full Senate vote later this year.

What’s Next For The CLARITY Act?

During an interview on FOX Business with Charles Payne, Lummis announced that legislators are now working on consolidating several crypto bills into one. Thereafter, the CLARITY Act could make it to the Senate floor.

“We’re going to take the bill that we passed in the Senate Banking Committee last week,” Lummis said. She added, “We’re going to combine it with a bill already passed the Ag Committee in the Senate which deals with a Commodity Futures Trading Commission part of this subject.”

In addition, Lummis noted that legislators will “wrap in language about ethics” in the CLARITY Act. Moreover, they are looking to make “technical changes to the GENIUS Act.” Lummis stated that these steps are necessary before presenting the combined legislation for a vote “hopefully sometime this summer.”

The Need For Crypto Regulation In U.S.

The Wyoming senator pointed out that bipartisan collaboration has been instrumental in the progress of crypto legislation in Congress. Payne added Lummis has been a staunch bipartisan supporter on digital asset legislation. For context, the introduced the Responsible Financial Innovation Act with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.

Lummis also spoke about the opposition of a section of the banking entities against the CLARITY Act during the interview. She said community banks are still on the fence about digital assets, but credit unions are warming up to the technology.

She said, “the credit unions we’ve spoken to see this as a new asset offering for them.” Lummis added that banks could eventually allow their customers to transact in “digital U.S. dollars or cash, or digital assets that are not denominated in the U.S. dollar.”

Lummis said the industry participants need regulatory certainty to remain in the U.S. instead of in Dubai and Singapore. “If we don’t address this, and create a clear regulatory framework for this asset, they’re going to go to Dubai and they’re going to go to Singapore,” she said.

Further, the senator noted the CLARITY Act also will include compliance with Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money laundering requirements in addition to consumer protection.

Earlier, the CLARITY Act advanced in the Senate with a 15-9 bipartisan vote.