U.S. House Passes CLARITY Act, Moves on to Stablecoin Vote

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed its bill to regulate the crypto markets in a 294-134 vote on Thursday, securing a strong bipartisan majority as the matter heads toward the Senate.

The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act marks the second time the House has approved a crypto market structure bill after a similar bipartisan effort in the previous congressional session last year, but the difference this year is that the Senate is now serious about its own passage of a bill. Tim Scott, the chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, said that he wants the Senate to finish legislation to regulate the U.S. crypto markets by Sept. 30, and that the House's work will be a "strong template."

Industry lobbyists were concentrating closely on the scale of Democratic support on the bill, considering that number to be a controlling factor in how much pressure the Senate will feel to act. In the end, the cause drew a number of Democrats. The Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT21) saw 208 Republicans and 71 Democrats vote in favor, figures easily surpassed by the 216 Republicans and 78 Democrats who supported this year's version.

As the destiny of U.S. crypto markets shifts to the Senate, the House moved on Thursday toward its vote on the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, the bill that would outline how stablecoin issuers would operate in the U.S., which already cleared the Senate in a 68-30 vote.

The legislation is expected to also be approved with a bipartisan vote. The difference, though, is that this vote marks the end of the road, and the GENIUS Act would go straight to the desk of President Donald Trump. The White House is preparing for a Friday signing event to establish GENIUS as the first major crypto law in the U.S.

Earlier this year, when he invited crypto leaders to a summit at the White House, Trump had set a deadline before the August congressional break for finishing both of the industry's top legislative priorities. The stablecoin effort marks the first step, though market structure is the more complex and important legislation.

The Senate may take more time, potentially missing Trump's deadline considerably by acting later in the year, according to some estimates.

The president's influence over crypto policy has been considerable — a point of contention for Democrats who say his personal stake in the industry is inappropriate. However, an 11th-hour negotiation with holdout Republicans on Tuesday's "Crypto Week" procedural actions ended with Trump boasting that he'd brought them back on board, only to find later that they'd continue their opposition for most of a day.

UPDATE July 17, 2025, 19:35 UTC): Adds FIT21 vote.