Lummis unveils revised Clarity Act with 100-plus Democratic changes ahead of Senate vote

Senate Republicans released a revised, 630-page Clarity Act text on Sept. 10, 2026, ahead of a critical procedural vote scheduled for Sept. 15. Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) says the new draft incorporates more than 100 changes requested by Democratic senators during summer negotiations, though the bill’s ethics provisions covering President Donald Trump’s crypto holdings remain largely untouched.

New draft expands DeFi rules

The latest Clarity Act draft preserves the bill’s four divisions and 103 sections, but changes are concentrated in a relatively small number of provisions.

One of the most substantial revisions concerns decentralized finance. The new language expands the bill’s treatment of protocols that appear decentralized but remain under meaningful control by individuals or organizations.

Under the revised framework, certain “decentralized-in-name-only” trading protocols could face registration requirements with the CFTC. The legislation also directs the CFTC and Treasury Department to establish rules governing these activities rather than automatically treating every protocol as subject to traditional registration requirements.

The changes also narrow the DeFi provisions to spot and cash digital commodity transactions. Lummis said that adjustment responds partly to concerns from Native American governments about how the legislation could affect prediction markets.

The new language is aimed at drawing a sharper line between genuinely decentralized software and platforms where identifiable parties retain the ability to control or materially alter a protocol.

That distinction could become one of the most consequential elements of the legislation because it attempts to provide developers and decentralized networks with protections without creating an unrestricted pathway for centralized operators to avoid regulation.

Democrats’ biggest demands remain unresolved

Despite the volume of changes, the revised Clarity Act does not resolve one of the biggest political obstacles: ethics requirements involving President Donald Trump’s cryptocurrency interests.

The ethics provisions remain largely unchanged from the July version, according to reporting on the new text. That is particularly important because Democratic senators have linked their support for the market-structure bill to stronger restrictions addressing potential conflicts involving Trump’s crypto holdings.

The issue has become increasingly difficult for negotiators as Trump’s family and affiliated businesses remain involved in the digital-asset sector.

The latest draft therefore creates an unusual political situation: Republicans can point to more than 100 Democratic-requested changes, while Democrats can argue that one of their most important demands has not been addressed.

The divide means the number of revisions alone may not be enough to secure the votes required to advance the legislation.

Stablecoin yield and developer protections stay the same

Another area of contention involves stablecoins.

The revised bill does not substantially alter its prohibition on yield payments for payment stablecoin balances. Banking groups have previously pushed lawmakers to reconsider how rewards associated with stablecoins could affect traditional deposits and competition with community banks.

The American Bankers Association and dozens of other financial institutions have warned that stablecoin rewards could encourage consumers to move money away from bank deposits, potentially creating pressure on the traditional banking system.

Some Republican senators, including Josh Hawley and Jerry Moran, have also expressed concerns about the stablecoin provisions.

Meanwhile, developer protections remain unchanged from the previous draft. The provision is designed to give certain blockchain developers greater regulatory certainty when they are creating or maintaining software rather than operating financial intermediaries.

The Senate Banking Committee has previously defended the broader bill as a way to establish clearer jurisdiction between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the CFTC while strengthening anti-money-laundering and consumer protections.

September 15 vote will test Bipartisan support

The political stakes surrounding the Clarity Act will rise sharply when the Senate returns to Washington next week.

The cloture motion on the motion to proceed to H.R. 3633 is scheduled to ripen on September 15 at 2:15 p.m., according to the Senate’s official schedule.

Lummis has continued to frame the legislation as an opportunity for the United States to establish durable cryptocurrency rules rather than leaving regulatory leadership to jurisdictions such as Singapore and the United Arab Emirates.

“This updated Clarity Act text reflects bipartisan hard work over August,” Lummis said, highlighting the new provisions covering decentralized-in-name-only DeFi protocols and other changes. She also said the bill includes more than 100 changes requested by Democrats.

But the next test will not be the number of edits on paper. It will be whether enough Democrats and Republicans can agree that the remaining disagreements are smaller than the potential benefits of establishing a federal crypto market framework.

With 60 votes required, Republican leaders still need Democratic support to advance the bill. The September 15 vote could therefore determine whether months of negotiations finally translate into formal Senate consideration—or whether unresolved disputes over ethics, stablecoin rewards and regulatory safeguards push the legislation back into negotiations.

For the crypto industry, the stakes are substantial. Passage would represent one of the most significant attempts by Congress to establish a comprehensive federal framework for digital assets. Failure to advance it would leave the industry’s long-running regulatory uncertainty unresolved.