Senate Republicans Release Revised CLARITY Act Text Ahead of Procedural Vote

US Senate Republicans have released revised text of the CLARITY Act in an effort to win Democratic support ahead of a procedural vote scheduled for Tuesday at 2:15pm ET. The updated 635-page proposal makes notable changes to ethics rules for federal officials and expands related provisions touching stablecoin rules and the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act (BRCA).

The revised CLARITY Act includes new ethics provisions that would restrict federal officials and their spouses from holding or engaging in certain significant digital-asset financial interests. State attorneys general would gain enforcement authority for those ethics-related restrictions, including rules against exchanges listing assets that violate the bans.

Civil penalties in the ethics framework could reach $500,000 or 20% of the amount received in a prohibited transaction, whichever is greater. The updated BRCA would extend 'safe harbor' style protections beyond prior exclusions to cover miners and validators, while removing references tied to unlicensed money-transmitting offenses.

The text also requires Treasury to introduce restrictions on certain rewards if community banks are losing deposits at a substantial scale, with that authority set to expire 18 months after enactment. The procedural vote timing suggests the ethics overhaul is intended to reduce political friction around the bill's advancement.