House Agriculture Committee advances HR 3633, the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, after contested amendments

The House Committee on Agriculture voted to advance H.R. 3633, the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, to the House floor after a full-day markup that produced heated debate over regulator funding, jurisdictional boundaries between the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission, and potential conflicts of interest tied to presidential-affiliated cryptocurrencies.

The committee approved the bill as amended in committee by a recorded vote of 29-24, and later voted 47-6 to report the measure favorably to the full House.

The Clarity Act would create a statutory framework to classify "digital commodities" and to assign primary spot-market regulatory authority to the CFTC for certain tokens. Supporters said the bill replaces regulatory uncertainty with a consistent national regime that protects consumers while encouraging innovation; critics said the measure shifts oversight away from the SEC, leaves enforcement agencies under-resourced, and could create loopholes firms might exploit.

Representative David Scott, a Democrat of Georgia, warned opposition members that the bill "would open loopholes for bad actors to exploit," arguing that the split in authority could allow firms to "pick a favored regulator as if they're buying the most lenient umpire in a baseball game." Scott also pressed the committee on the lack of guaranteed appropriations for the CFTC even as the bill…