The U.S. CLARITY Act faces a decisive procedural test with Senate Majority Leader John Thune scheduling a cloture vote for Tuesday, September 15 at 2:15 PM ET. Republicans will need at least 60 votes to break a filibuster, meaning support from a handful of Democrats is essential for the bill's advancement. The chamber has less than 36 legislative days remaining before the current session ends in January 2027, when a newly elected Congress is sworn in. If the legislation fails to overcome this procedural hurdle, the path to becoming law could stretch into a new Congress with potentially different political leadership, delaying any resolution until at least 2027 — and possibly much longer. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer convened his caucus on September 13 to decide whether nine members would cross over, with neither side showing their hand as of Monday.
Senate Republicans released a revised CLARITY Act draft hours before Tuesday's cloture vote, expanding the bill from 616 pages to 635 pages. The most significant addition defines an ancillary asset as a network token whose value depends on the entrepreneurial or managerial efforts of an originator or someone related to the originator. Under this new language, XRP would be treated as a digital commodity in secondary markets regardless of how much XRP Ripple holds, effectively resolving the central legal question that produced a three-year lawsuit. The revision arrived alongside a reported White House concession on expanded conflict-of-interest rules and state-level enforcement powers, both aimed at securing Democratic votes. The cloture vote requires 60 votes, and Republicans hold 53 seats, meaning at least seven Democrats must cross party lines for passage.
Bitcoin is holding firm at $77,700 as the market braces for Tuesday's CLARITY Act cloture vote, demonstrating crypto's decoupling from broader market volatility. The cryptocurrency is consolidating in the $76,000–$78,000 band with analysts flagging $76,432 as a critical defense line, while deeper support sits at $75,674 and $71,781. On the upside, resistance clusters at $78,146, $78,260, and the broader $80,000–$82,793 ceiling. The bull case scenario involves a clean procedural pass triggering a break above $79,730 toward $81,000, while the base case expects continued range-bound trading between $76k and $78k as markets await the Fed meeting on September 15-16. A bear case would see stalled vote combined with rising oil prices and inflation expectations sending BTC testing $75,674 quickly.
XRP climbed to $1.47, up 8.42%, while XLM surged to $0.1949, gaining 8.44% on September 14 as traders positioned ahead of the pivotal Senate procedural vote. The rally reflects growing optimism around the CLARITY Act's potential to codify digital assets as commodities rather than securities, which would reduce legal uncertainty that has constrained institutional participation. In March 2026, the SEC and CFTC had already identified XRP and XLM, along with HBAR, as examples of digital commodities in joint guidance. XRP has long been associated with cross-border payments and institutional settlement rails, while XLM, through the Stellar network, has drawn attention for low-cost transfers and recent connections to traditional financial infrastructure, including a U.S. Bank cross-border stablecoin pilot completed on the network just days before the vote. Prediction markets suggest the odds of passage remain genuinely low, with Polymarket pricing falling from 82% in February to 30% currently, while Galaxy Research pegs the probability at just 10%.
The updated CLARITY Act faces significant opposition from the banking sector over stablecoin provisions that could compete with traditional banking services. On Monday, banking groups criticised the new draft, saying the revised language did little to ease concerns that stablecoin rewards could eventually hinder banks' ability to extend credit. The banking industry has raised concerns about the potential for crypto tokens to undermine traditional banking services, particularly regarding stablecoin rewards that could affect lending operations. This opposition has created additional hurdles for the bill's passage, as Democrats are also pushing for tighter restrictions on public officeholders profiting from their own crypto ventures, partly targeting US President Donald Trump's meme coin and World Liberty Financial, a crypto company run by his sons. The revised version gives state attorneys general greater authority to enforce restrictions on public officeholders and would require political officials to divest significant existing financial interests in crypto-focused companies or place those assets in a blind trust.
The deep-pocketed crypto industry has spent hundreds of millions of dollars campaigning to advance the CLARITY Act legislation, according to Reuters. Although passage of the CLARITY Act would be positive for the crypto ecosystem and has received broad industry support, investors and analysts have said the crypto market has largely priced in the possibility that the bill will not become law in the foreseeable future. "Another delay would be negative but probably not a new regime shock, whereas passage would reduce legal uncertainty and could unlock additional institutional activity," said Can-Luca Köymen, investment strategist at digital asset bank Sygnum. Though the vote is procedural, analysts see it as a critical test, with little time remaining on the Senate calendar for Republicans to revive the bill if it fails. The legislation would establish a regulatory framework for digital assets, which crypto companies argue would put them on more solid legal footing.
