Sen. Scott: Crypto 'Clarity Act' nearing markup but ethics, quorum and stablecoin issues remain

Sen. Tim Scott told Fox Business the Clarity Act, a bill to clarify federal rules for crypto markets, was close to markup and could reach that stage in three to five weeks, but he listed several outstanding issues that remain unresolved.

Scott highlighted four primary sticking points: ethics provisions (which some Democrats want to include to address officials’ crypto exposure), ensuring the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission have quorums to act, the design of reward mechanisms, and how to treat stablecoins relative to deposit-like bank products. "If it looks like a duck... we wanted to make sure that a savings account and your stable coins are treated differently," Scott said, arguing for differentiation based on asset structure.

Scott emphasized the need for Republican agreement on a negotiating position and described banks’ cautious responses to proposed compromises. He projected a near-term timeline for committee activity but cautioned that final passage would depend on resolving the listed issues.

No committee markup minutes or legislative text changes were produced on air; Scott described the status and his expectations.