Svmuu News: One year after the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (CLARITY Act), the bill remains stalled in the Senate, facing opposition from the banking industry and partisan divisions. Supporters expect the Senate to hold a vote before its August recess.
Industry organizations Coin Center and the Blockchain Association have identified Section 604 as a key provision for protecting open-source innovation. This provision aims to prevent non-custodial blockchain developers, node operators, and validators from being classified as federal money transmitters.
Stefan Muehlbauer, Head of U.S. Government Affairs at CertiK, stated that removing Section 604 could conflate software development with financial services, subject developers to the Bank Secrecy Act, and trigger constitutional challenges related to the First Amendment.Iana Dimitrova, CEO of Openpayd, noted that the growing use of stablecoins for cross-border value transfers has made the need for a federal regulatory framework even more evident.
The bill also addresses accounting standards, acknowledging that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s Staff Accounting Bulletin (SAB) 121 has been rescinded and prohibiting the SEC from reimposing equivalent accounting requirements for crypto custody without a full notice-and-comment process. Mark Zalan, CEO of Gomining, noted that Bitcoins still face regulatory gaps, such as those related to tax treatment.