House Financial Services markup advances 'Clarity Act' debate over digital-asset rules

The House Financial Services Committee spent its longest contiguous debate on the Clarity Act, a sweeping market-structure bill that would draw lines between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission for the regulation of digital assets and related intermediaries.

Committee Chairman French Hill (R-Ark.) opened the discussion by urging lawmakers to act. "Today and moving forward, we have the opportunity to bring long desired and much needed clarity to the digital asset market," he said, describing the measure as a framework to protect consumers, encourage innovation and assign agency roles.

Supporters and the bill’s drafters argued the legislation fills a long-standing void. Subcommittee Chairman Bridil Stahl (Wis.) said the lack of consistent rules has pushed innovation offshore and left investors exposed. "The Clarity Act provides straightforward answers to key questions," he said, listing jurisdictional allocation, listing standards and protections for customer custody among the bill’s objectives.

Opponents, led by Ranking Member Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), raised sharply different concerns. Waters said the bill could expose investors to fraud and create national-security risks, and complained it did not address alleged conflicts of interest involving the sitting president. "This bill creates vague new definitions that will result in endless litigation,"…