Lummis Releases Revised CLARITY Act Text for Bitcoin (BTC) Vote Set Sept. 15

Lummis Publishes Substitute Amendment EHF26718

Senator Cynthia Lummis, who chairs the Senate Banking Committee's digital assets subcommittee, has published a revised version of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, the market-structure bill that would redraw SEC and CFTC jurisdiction over Bitcoin (BTC) and the wider token economy. The substitute amendment, filed under document number EHF26718, replaces the full text of H.R. 3633 and incorporates more than 114 provisions requested by Democratic negotiators during August's bipartisan talks. The legislation cleared the House in July 2025 by a 294-134 margin, and the Senate Banking Committee approved it in May 2026, 15-9. The decentralized-finance section carries the sharpest changes: the text directs the CFTC to write rules requiring individuals or groups that control insufficiently decentralized DeFi protocols — decentralized-in-name-only platforms, in Lummis's framing — to register with the agency and meet Bank Secrecy Act obligations, while exemptions for DeFi activity are narrowed strictly to spot and cash transactions in digital commodities. That narrowing responds to Native American concerns over blockchain prediction markets built on distributed ledgers. Lummis confirmed the scope of the revisions in a September 10 post on X. The amendment also clarifies that federal credit unions may deliver authorized services using distributed ledger systems, and it carries forward the token-classification framework: a network token — a digital commodity whose value derives from use of its underlying ledger — would be treated as a non-security under defined conditions, while tokens still dependent on the entrepreneurial efforts of an ancillary asset originator face disclosure duties. The text instructs the SEC to draft a Regulation Crypto exemption for certain ancillary asset transactions and creates a coordinated-control certification regime: related-party sales generally require a 12-month holding period before exit, reduced to 6 months once certification is granted. Token distributions such as an airdrop would be assessed separately from fundraising transactions that trigger securities law, and data infrastructure — from a lending venue's risk engine to a blockchain oracle network — falls inside the registration perimeter only where control stays concentrated.

September 10 post on Xhttps://x.com/SenLummis/status/2098124286871433416?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Bessent Presses Senate Ahead of Cloture Vote

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has added executive-branch weight to the push. In a September 9 post on X, Bessent urged senators to remain at the negotiating table and back the motion to proceed to H.R. 3633, framing the bill as both a regulatory and a national security priority; failure to advance it, he warned, would signal to allies and adversaries alike that the United States will not lead on digital assets or strengthen tools against their illicit use. White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt echoed the appeal, telling senators of both parties to support the procedural step so the legislative process can continue. The vote itself is procedural, not final: Senate records identify the motion to proceed to H.R. 3633, filed by Majority Leader John Thune on August 8, and cloture requires 60 votes. With Republicans holding 53 seats, at least seven additional votes must come from Democrats or independents even if the conference holds together. Unresolved disputes cut against that arithmetic — Democrats object to anti-money-laundering language and to ethics provisions covering the president's and his family's digital asset businesses, while some Republicans and the banking industry warn that yield-bearing stablecoins could compete with deposits and impair lending capacity. If enacted, the bill would establish federal registration pathways for digital commodity exchanges, brokers and dealers, impose disclosure, customer-asset protection and recordkeeping requirements, and place qualifying assets under CFTC supervision while the SEC retains authority over securities — a compliance perimeter our guide to the best crypto exchanges tracks closely for trading venues. Readers tracking the market in real time can follow live spot and futures prices on Bybit.

September 9 post on Xhttps://x.com/SecScottBessent/status/2097748578777047185

Sixty Votes Remain the Obstacle

Our reading of the filing itself — EHF26718 is an amendment in the nature of a substitute, a proposal rather than a final rule — is that nothing yet binds the SEC or the CFTC: the text takes effect only if both chambers reconcile their versions and the president signs. COINOTAG notes Bitcoin (BTC) trading near $76,900 as of this writing, and market attention now fixes on September 15, 2:15 p.m. ET, when the cloture tally reveals whether 100-plus refinements converted Democratic skepticism into the seven votes Republicans cannot supply alone.