Lummis Unveils 630-Page Revised Clarity Act Draft for Bitcoin (BTC) Markets

Revised Draft Targets Controlled Trading Protocols

Senate Republicans put a revised Clarity Act on the table Thursday, and the new 630-page draft goes after crypto trading protocols that are decentralized in name only. Under the updated language, any trading protocol actually controlled by an individual or a group would be required to register with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) — a test that reaches past the centralized venues familiar from any Best Crypto Exchanges ranking into managed services spanning lending, staking and DeFi insurance. Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, one of the bill's chief negotiators, unveiled the text ahead of a September 15 procedural vote widely viewed as make-or-break for the long-anticipated US digital-asset market framework. In a post on X, Lummis said the revision reflects bipartisan work through the August recess: it specifies when decentralized-in-name-only DeFi protocols must register with the CFTC and limits the DeFi provisions to spot and cash transactions, a narrowing made in response to Native American concerns about prediction markets. She added that the new version incorporates more than 100 changes requested by Democrats, closing with “Let’s get this done!” The draft also directs the CFTC and Treasury to write rules for protocols that people or groups can control or materially alter, while the ethics provisions stay close to the July version that barred public officials, their employees and spouses from issuing or sponsoring digital assets. If enacted, the bill would effectively legalize most cryptocurrency activity in the United States, draw a firm jurisdictional line between the CFTC and the Securities and Exchange Commission, and reopen token sales as a fundraising route for startups. For assets caught in years of jurisdictional disputes — assets like XRP the most prominent example — that boundary is the heart of the matter.

post on Xhttps://x.com/SenLummis/status/2098124286871433416?s=20

Democrats Hold the Swing Votes

The mechanics of passage are the harder problem. The new text, circulated Thursday, tweaks how decentralized finance firms and some traditional finance firms engaging in crypto would be treated, and gives credit unions clearer ground rules for handling digital assets, while the bulk of the draft largely resembles earlier versions. Lummis argued for pushing legislation now rather than leaving digital-asset rules to sitting regulators, saying the text incorporates “more than 114 separate provisions” at Democrats’ request and calling it “a strong bipartisan product” that, unlike rulemaking, shields the industry from “the whiplash of changes in the White House.” The hurdle is arithmetic: the cloture vote set for Tuesday, September 15, requires 60 senators, meaning Democrats must sign on — and per a Politico report, none currently support the bill. Democrats’ central demand is a bipartisan ethics provision restraining President Donald Trump and other senior officials from profiting off crypto businesses, and Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina told Semafor this week that the White House still needed to engage on that proposal. White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have both urged lawmakers to vote yes on the motion to proceed, with Bessent writing that failure would signal that America is “unwilling to lead on the future of digital assets.” Outside pressure is building on both sides: the American Bankers Association, the Independent Community Bankers of America and 77 state banking associations sent an open letter Thursday demanding tighter limits on the rewards stablecoin issuers can offer — the same yield fight that has drawn in yield platforms like Pendle Finance. Industry group Stand With Crypto says supporters contacted members of Congress nearly 50,000 times in August, while Cody Carbone of the Digital Chamber urged the Senate to act now or “risk ceding U.S. leadership” in blockchain innovation. Readers tracking the market in real time can follow live spot and futures prices on MEXC.

Bessent writinghttps://x.com/SecScottBessent/status/2097748578777047185

A Draft, Not a Law, Until 60 Votes

COINOTAG's reading of the bill text itself — the 630-page draft released by the senator's office, not any secondary summary — is a reminder of what this document is and is not. It is a proposal: it binds no one today, and its registration triggers for controlled trading protocols take effect only if both chambers pass it and it is signed into law. What the draft does do is hand the CFTC and Treasury a rulemaking mandate over controllable protocols, meaning the operational burden would fall on trading platforms rather than Bitcoin (BTC) holders themselves. Everything now hinges on whether 60 senators advance it on September 15.