Senate Returns with Cryptocurrency, College Sports, and Data Centers on Agenda

The US Senate is set to vote on several key pieces of legislation when it returns from recess this week, including the CLARITY Act, which aims to regulate cryptocurrency. The bipartisan bill would provide federal rules for digital assets and define regulatory oversight between the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

However, Democratic concerns about ethics may hinder progress, as the bill requires 60 votes to move forward. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts has argued that the CLARITY Act needs ethics guardrails to prevent loopholes that could allow government officials to profit off the crypto industry.

The Republican authors of the bill have released a new draft with added ethics language aimed at easing those concerns, but it remains unclear whether the bill will pass. Meanwhile, other legislation on the table includes the Protect College Sports Act, which would regulate name, image and likeness in college sports, and the Ratepayer Protection Act, which aims to ease concerns about consumers paying for data centers' high electric costs.