“We keep hearing that there are other competing priorities in the Senate, and while that may be true, everyone is still prioritizing this, and that’s why you see readings every day of different Senate groups coming together, Republicans and Democrats sitting over lunch talking about clarity,” Carbone said.
Lamb duck?
The period of congressional session following the November election, a handful of weeks known as the lame-duck session, has been held up by some lawmakers and crypto leaders as a backup option to get Clarity passed this year. However, that period can be very unpredictable and filled with congressional action, depending on what is left on the agenda.
Despite the remaining obstacles, some still express strong assurances that 2026 is the year of the crypto market structure law.
“Clarity is no longer a matter of if, but when Congress gets it across the finish line,” Summer Mersinger, CEO of the Blockchain Association, said in a statement to CoinDesk. “Legislators are tackling the outstanding issues with true bipartisan resolve, and they are poised to turn years of debate into durable legislation that protects consumers, provides safety for builders, and keeps America leading the way.”
But analysts are more reserved in their expectations.
“We believe that at least the Senate needs to pass the bill before its August recess for it to become law this year,” Beacon Policy Advisors, a Washington policy research group, said in a Monday note. “While negotiations could hypothetically continue into the fall, incentives change around the midterms, and the odds of the bill becoming law at all, not just this year, will drop significantly if the Senate misses its August deadline.”
