[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 145 (Tuesday, September 15, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4699-S4700]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
EXECUTIVE CALENDAR
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the
Senate will proceed to executive session and resume consideration of
the following nomination, which the clerk will report.
The senior assistant executive clerk read the nomination of Matthew
R. Byrne, of Ohio, to be United States District Judge for the Southern
District of Ohio.
recognition of the majority leader
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The majority leader is recognized.
digital asset market clarity act
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, last year, Congress passed the GENIUS Act,
which is the first bill regulating digital assets ever to become law.
And the GENIUS Act was a landmark bill for more reasons than just
being the first. It applied a light-touch approach to digital asset
regulation that provides clear rules of the road for stablecoins, while
allowing space for continued innovation and encouraging that innovation
to happen right here in the United States.
We have already seen the positive effects of that approach.
Stablecoin market capitalization increased by 49 percent in 2025, due
in part to the regulatory clarity provided by the GENIUS Act.
Visa and Mastercard have been investing in stablecoin-linked credit
cards amid heightened demand for such cards. Visa alone tripled its
offer of stablecoin-linked credit cards last year, and one Visa
executive called the GENIUS Act a huge turning point for the industry.
Thanks to clear regulatory guidelines for stablecoins, the digital
asset industry is moving in the right direction in the United States.
That is a stark contrast to how things were under the Biden
administration.
Not long ago, digital assets operated in a legal gray zone in this
country. The Biden administration was regulating crypto companies with
arbitrary enforcement measures, subjecting crypto firms to numerous
lawsuits. And these hostile actions led a number of U.S.-based
companies to consider moving out of the United States altogether.
We can all agree that the United States should be the world's leader
in financial innovation, and as the GENIUS Act proves, innovation
surges with certainty.
When we passed the GENIUS Act over a year ago, I said market
structure legislation would be the next logical step. Today, thanks to
the leadership of Senator Lummis and Chairmen Scott and Boozman and a
lot of hard work from a number of our colleagues on both sides of the
aisle, the Senate
[[Page S4700]]
has the opportunity to take that step with the Digital Asset Market
Clarity Act.
The Clarity Act would apply the same approach that we took on
stablecoins in the GENIUS Act to the entire digital asset ecosystem. It
would provide clear rules of the road while encouraging innovation to
happen right here in America.
To begin with, the Clarity Act distinguishes the jurisdictions of the
Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange
Commission, while ensuring that the CFTC and the SEC still work
together to harmonize their rules.
The Clarity Act also ensures that companies can't skirt securities
laws that apply to other financial assets, and it protects the growing
number of Americans investing in and utilizing digital assets. It
provides everyday Americans with the information they need to make
investment decisions, prevents value manipulation schemes, and ensures
that law enforcement has the tools that it needs to go after bad actors
and fraud.
Anyone concerned about another failure like the FTX collapse a few
years ago should want to see the Clarity Act passed quickly. This bill
would prevent another FTX. It would require exchanges to be subject to
examination and provide transparency so that regulators can intervene
before harm becomes widespread. It would prevent companies from using
customers' funds as their own, as FTX did, and it would ensure that
exchanges and their affiliates can't trade on their own platforms.
This bill has support from large financial institutions and law
enforcement organizations, and it has had bipartisan support from the
beginning. As I said, this bill has been a bipartisan work in progress
for over a year, with roots that go back even before that. In the last
year, 126 substantive changes have been made to the bill at the request
of our Democrat colleagues.
The Clarity Act was reported out of the Banking Committee on a
bipartisan vote, and, over the weekend, Senators Lummis, Boozman, and
Scott released a final draft that incorporated even more of Democrats'
demands, in the interest of moving forward with this bill.
The question now is whether Democrats will take yes for an answer.
Digital assets are firmly rooted in the United States. One in five
American adults has invested in or used cryptocurrency. The
overwhelming majority of crypto owners want clear rules of the road and
protections like those provided in the GENIUS Act and the Clarity Act.
This is a shared priority for Republicans, Democrats, and President
Trump. We have been working at it now for over a year. The only reason
for this progress to end now would be if Democrats choose politics over
good policy.
And now is not the time for political games. We have seen what
regulatory certainty did to promote innovation and growth in
stablecoins. We have an opportunity to do that across the entire
digital asset industry by passing the Clarity Act. We should take the
opportunity before us to ensure this innovation happens right here in
America and that the United States remains the leader in financial
technology well into the future.
I yield the floor.
I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
The senior assistant executive clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.