The Senate Banking Committee will mark up the Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act the week of May 11, 2026, ending a three-month delay on the most consequential U.S. crypto legislation in over a decade. Senator Cynthia Lummis confirmed the timing at the Bitcoin 2026 Conference in Las Vegas this week, saying lawmakers are “going to get it to the finish line.” Senator Thom Tillis, who pushed the original April markup back over stablecoin and yield concerns, separately committed to the May 11 window in a Fox Business interview, calling outstanding text “almost 99% sorted out.” Passage would hand the CFTC primary jurisdiction over most non-stablecoin digital assets and limit the SEC’s reach to tokenized securities.
The CLARITY Act is a market structure framework that splits regulatory authority over digital assets between the SEC and CFTC, defines when a token is a commodity rather than a security, and creates registration pathways for crypto trading platforms.
Key takeaways
- Senate Banking Committee markup of the CLARITY Act is scheduled for the week of May 11, 2026, the first available window after a recess that ends May 10.
- Senators Lummis and Tillis publicly committed to the timing this week, with Lummis saying core provisions are 99% resolved and Tillis confirming the date on Fox Business.
- The bill cleared the House more than eight months ago as H.R. 3633 and gives the CFTC primary jurisdiction over most non-stablecoin crypto assets while limiting the SEC to tokenized securities.
- Lummis warned that failure to pass the bill in 2026 would push comprehensive crypto regulation to at least 2030.
Published: May 1, 2026, 09:30 UTC
Why the May 11 markup matters now
A markup is the committee step where senators amend and vote on legislative text before it reaches the full chamber. For the CLARITY Act, this is the gate that has held the bill back since the House passed it in mid-2025. The Senate Banking Committee originally targeted April for the markup, then Tillis asked for more time on stablecoin yield provisions and the schedule slid.
Speaking at the Bitcoin 2026 Conference, Lummis told attendees the Senate is “going to markup the CLARITY Act in May.” With the chamber in recess until May 10, the earliest possible markup is the week starting May 11. Tillis confirmed that timeline in a separate interview, saying he will push the committee to schedule the session as soon as the Senate returns.
The political clock is real. Lummis warned that if the bill does not pass in 2026, the next viable window is 2030, after midterms and the next presidential cycle absorb floor time.
What the bill actually does
The CLARITY Act, formally H.R. 3633 in the 119th Congress, draws a line between digital assets that look like commodities and those that look like securities, then assigns them to the CFTC and SEC respectively. Most non-stablecoin crypto assets fall on the CFTC side. Tokenized securities, which represent equity, debt, or other traditional financial instruments on a blockchain, stay under SEC jurisdiction.
For exchanges, the practical effect is a federal registration regime that does not currently exist. Platforms listing spot crypto trading would register with the CFTC as digital commodity exchanges, with disclosure, custody, and market-integrity rules modeled on the existing futures market structure. Token issuers gain a clearer path to launch a project without immediate Howey-test exposure.
The provisions still being negotiated
Two areas remain in active discussion. The first is stablecoin yield. Tillis raised concerns about how non-bank issuers can pay interest or rewards to holders without bumping into bank-charter requirements. Lummis said the language is close to final, but the wording matters because it affects whether yield-bearing variants of major stablecoins fall inside or outside the framework.
The second is ethics. Democratic senators have insisted the bill address executive branch crypto holdings, including assets tied to the Trump family. Sources familiar with the talks say those provisions are more likely to be added on the Senate floor rather than at the committee stage, a sequencing decision that helps move the bill out but sets up a harder fight later.
Lummis told stakeholders that legislative text will be released to industry groups four to five days before the hearing for review. That implies a public draft around May 6 or 7 if the markup holds.
What it means for the industry
For U.S. exchanges, passage would end years of regulation-by-enforcement and create a single federal supervisor for spot crypto trading. Coinbase, Kraken, and Gemini have lobbied heavily for this outcome.
For token issuers, the bill defines an “investment contract asset” category that lets a project raise capital under SEC oversight initially and graduate to commodity status once the network is sufficiently decentralized. That maps to the staged framework the SEC laid out in its March 2026 interpretive guidance.
For the CFTC, the bill is a workload event. The agency would absorb spot oversight for a multi-trillion-dollar asset class, requiring funding and staffing increases Congress will need to authorize separately.
What to watch next
The next confirmable signals are the bill text release in early May, the markup hearing the week of May 11, and the vote count in the Banking Committee. Bipartisan support out of committee, especially with three or more Democrats voting yes, would point to a real shot at passage before the August recess.
Frequently asked questions
What is a markup in the Senate Banking Committee?
A markup is a committee meeting where senators debate, amend, and vote on a bill before sending it to the full Senate. For the CLARITY Act, the May 11 markup is where final language gets locked in and where any amendments offered by Democratic senators on ethics or consumer protection will be voted up or down.
How is the CLARITY Act different from the GENIUS Act?
The GENIUS Act, which became law in 2025, governs payment stablecoins and sets reserve, audit, and issuer requirements. The CLARITY Act is broader: it assigns regulatory jurisdiction over all other digital assets between the SEC and CFTC, defines token categories, and creates registration regimes for crypto exchanges and brokers.
Will passage of the CLARITY Act move crypto prices?
Markets have already priced in some probability of passage. A successful bipartisan committee markup would likely lift exchange tokens and assets that benefit from CFTC oversight, while a partisan vote or further delay would extend the regulatory uncertainty discount on mid-cap altcoins and U.S.-based DeFi projects.
