The CLARITY Act advances into the final stage in the Senate, sacrificing DeFi developers’ rights to reach a consensus

The U.S. Crypto regulatory effort has made major progress. On Thursday, the Senate Banking Committee officially passed the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (the “Clarity Act”) by a vote of 15 to 9. After the bill stalled in the committee for four months, the two parties finally reached a compromise at the last moment, and the bill’s consideration will move into its final stage in the full Senate.

Bipartisan vote in the Senate Banking Committee: the crypto “Clarity Act” clears its first hurdle

According to sources, after months of stalemate, Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott secured support from some Democrats by incorporating multiple amendments. Cynthia Lummis, the senator leading the negotiations, said that the “CLARITY Act” is the “most difficult piece of legislation” she has worked on in nearly 40 years in public office. With cooperation between the two parties, the bill ultimately received a recommendation to advance to the full Senate for a vote, with results of 15 votes to 9.

Even so, Democratic leader Elizabeth Warren in the committee remains firmly opposed, criticizing that the Clarity Act will wreck the economy and push economic resources into crypto.

JUST IN: Senator Elizabeth Warren says the crypto Clarity Act will “blow up the economy.”

“It pushes more of the economy into crypto!” pic.twitter.com/4LbDiU2hUV

— Watcher.Guru (@WatcherGuru) May 14, 2026

Bipartisan negotiations remove key protections for DeFi developers

Although the bill has cleared smoothly, the crypto industry is concerned about the outcome of the last-minute negotiations. To reach consensus, an amendment by Senator Cynthia Lummis was forced to be revised, deleting the relevant text in Section 301 of the “Blockchain Regulatory Clarity Act” (BRCA).

DeFi advocates say this change could weaken legal protections for DeFi developers. Originally, the industry had hoped that the provision would clearly state that developers should not be held legally liable for illegal use of the code they wrote, but this portion of the text was cut during the negotiations, raising concerns in the industry about future legal risks.

(CLARITY Act bipartisan negotiations break down! Blockchain regulatory provisions are the only point of dispute)

The legislative timeline is tight, as lawmakers push to send the bill to the full Senate before the August recess

In the coming weeks, the Clarity Act will integrate the final text, and it must be submitted for a full Senate vote before the start of the summer congressional recess and the surge of midterm election activity in August, while also securing at least 60 votes as the support threshold, before then being sent to the House.

This article appeared earliest on ChainNews ABMedia, stating that the CLARITY Act has cleared the Senate and entered the final stage, with consensus reached at the cost of DeFi developers’ rights.