Clarity Act Faces Crucial Senate Vote Amid State AG Pushback

The Clarity Act is set to face a pivotal procedural vote in the US Senate on Tuesday, after President Donald Trump agreed to most of a bipartisan package aimed at tightening ethics rules for federal officials with crypto-related interests.

The bill is designed to create a federal framework for how digital-asset markets are regulated, including clearer lines between the SEC and the CFTC. However, the latest compromise has not softened all opposition.

A bipartisan group of 18 state attorneys general, led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, is urging senators to reject the legislation, arguing that the bill's changes would undermine state authority to investigate and take action against crypto companies accused of fraud or other misconduct.

The attorneys general contend that while the current draft reserves certain powers for states to prosecute fraud, the provisions are often ambiguous, unclear, or confined in ways that could enable challenges to state law-enforcement authority or restrict how aggressively states can continue addressing what they describe as a 'scam epidemic'. They emphasize that ambiguity may invite legal fights and limit practical oversight.