Senate Panel Advances CLARITY Act 15-9 Over Warren’s Objections

The Senate Banking Committee on May 14 voted 15-9 to advance the 309-page CLARITY Act (H.R. 3633) to the full Senate. The bipartisan bill seeks to draw regulatory lines between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for digital assets.

The CLARITY Act would set a decentralization test to determine whether a digital asset should be treated as a security under the SEC or as a commodity under the CFTC. Backers say the test would reduce legal uncertainty in crypto markets and place oversight with the agency best suited to each asset type.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren offered 44 amendments during the committee markup; none were adopted. She warned the bill would “blow up the economy,” that it would “blow a hole in our securities laws that have protected investors since 1929,” and that it “declares open season on defrauding American consumers who use crypto.” Warren also questioned whether firms could evade SEC oversight by moving operations onchain and described the draft as “just not ready for prime time.”

Supporters pushed back, saying the decentralization test is not a blanket opt-out from SEC jurisdiction and that companies would need to meet defined, verifiable criteria before regulatory authority could shift to the CFTC. Industry leaders have urged clearer rules; Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev last week called passage a foundational step toward legitimizing the crypto industry under U.S. financial law.

A recent poll found 52% of Americans support the CLARITY Act, and 70% said the U.S. should already have enacted crypto market-structure rules. Market participants responded to the committee vote with positive flows: digital asset funds recorded $857.9 million in net inflows earlier this month.

The bill now moves to the Senate floor, where it must secure 60 votes to overcome procedural hurdles. Sponsors will need some bipartisan backing beyond the committee majority for the legislation to advance. If the Senate approves the CLARITY Act, it would allocate regulatory responsibility between the SEC and the CFTC and establish standards for when crypto products are treated as securities or commodities.