Today’s CLARITY Act news: Coinbase Global policy chief Faryar Shirzad said the CLARITY Act faces two potential outcomes ahead of the Senate’s scheduled September 15 procedural vote.
The bill could fall just short of the 60 votes required for cloture, or a late bipartisan shift could provide enough support to clear the threshold. Shirzad made the assessment in a September 6 conversation with industry advocate Scott Melker.
Shirzad said the crypto industry has spent years building bipartisan support for comprehensive regulation. The upcoming vote will test whether that support can translate into the votes needed to advance the market-structure bill.
Crypto Regulation Background: How the Vote Math Got This Tight
Coinbase is not assuming that all 53 Senate Republicans will support the motion to proceed, according to Shirzad. Each Republican defection would increase the number of Democratic votes needed to clear the 60-vote cloture threshold.
Shirzad expects several remaining disputes, including provisions concerning decentralized finance and exchange rules, to be resolved before the vote. In his view, the larger risk involves ethics language concerning President Donald Trump’s crypto interests. Senate Democrats have criticized the proposed ethics provisions as insufficient, while Republicans have argued that the legislation contains meaningful safeguards.
The American Bankers Association has separately urged senators to address what it describes as a loophole involving stablecoin interest and yield. Its account of the debate also noted concerns from senators in both parties about potential effects on local lending.
CLARITY Act News: Inside the Jailbreak Scenario Shirzad Is Watching
Shirzad described a scenario known in Washington as a jailbreak, in which support from a handful of Democrats could give other lawmakers political cover to vote yes once bipartisan backing becomes visible. He said the White House has already accepted restrictions specific to the president, though Democrats may seek further concessions before supplying the votes needed for cloture. Stablecoin-related banking concerns could also complicate Republican support, he said, though he still expects the White House to push for a compromise; with the outcome hinging on whether negotiators can bridge differences over ethics provisions and other remaining language.
Shirzad said a failed vote wouldn’t end efforts to regulate crypto. He expects agencies to pursue more than 100 rules covering much of the ground Congress left unaddressed, aiming to reproduce elements of the bill’s framework through regulatory action. He also expects crypto to keep moving into traditional finance through tokenization, stablecoins, perpetual futures and 24/7 markets regardless of the outcome, with Coinbase pursuing a broader platform spanning investing, lending, borrowing and multiple asset classes either way.
The immediate legislative question, then, is narrower than broad support for digital-asset regulation. Shirzad’s assessment turns on a handful of Democratic votes and on ethics-language negotiations: a successful procedural vote lets the bill advance, while a shortfall pushes agencies to implement rules covering much of what Congress left unfinished.
