CLARITY Act's Crypto Boost: Senate Bill Could Unlock 11 New Activities for US Banks
The CLARITY Act has been stalled in the Senate, but the Congressional Research Service (CRS) report on its potential impact suggests that US banks could unlock 11 new crypto activities under the bill. According to the report, these activities would include underwriting and trading digital assets, which are currently not permitted for banks.
The Senate version of the bill would allow banking companies and credit unions to act in certain ways without maintaining the distinction between insured banks and subsidiary companies under common ownership. This means that they could engage in more types of digital asset activities than they can currently do.
The House bill, on the other hand, is more limited and would only permit banks to apply blockchain and other digital technologies to existing activities. Other crypto activities would be authorized for nonbank subsidiaries of financial holding companies.