Pressure Builds as the Legislative Window Narrows

The push was reported by Eleanor Terrett, host of “ Crypto in America,” who said GOP lawmakers are increasingly anxious to move the bill once senators return from their break. She tied the renewed sense of urgency to heightened political pressure following the fallout from a contentious housing bill, as well as a growing realization that time is running short. She further added:

“Pressure and time constraints could ultimately create the conditions needed to strike a deal.”

Lawmakers and analysts broadly agree that the Senate must act before August for the legislation to have a realistic shot this year. The CLARITY Act would establish a federal framework dividing oversight of digital assets between the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). It is a long-sought goal for an industry that has complained for years about regulatory uncertainty in the U.S. The House of Representatives passed its version of the measure in 2025.

From the outside looking in, the arithmetic seems to be a central hurdle as Republicans hold 53 Senate seats, which means the bill needs at least seven Democratic votes to overcome the 60-vote cloture threshold and reach a final floor vote. The Senate Banking Committee advanced the legislation in a 15-9 vote in May, placing it on the calendar but leaving the floor fight unresolved.

Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) has set an end-of-July target and warned that missing the window could push enforceable digital-asset rules to 2030. Reporting indicates that the House is prepared to move quickly to reconcile the two versions if the Senate passes its bill before the recess, with the lower chamber scheduling back-to-back hearings in July touching on crypto policy.

Industry pressure has also intensified, with more than 200 organizations, including Coinbase and Ripple, urging Senate leaders to bring the bill to the floor. A separate coalition representing over 1,200 technology companies has pressed for swift passage as U.S. crypto rules face mounting global competition. Groups of former national security officials and crypto founders have added their names to the mix as well in recent weeks.

That said, not everyone is on board with these developments, and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, recently argued that the bill in its current form could “blow up the economy.” That opposition is part of why supporters need to peel off a handful of Democrats to reach 60 votes.

What Comes Next

The next step is a Senate floor vote, where the bill’s bipartisan support will face its broadest test. Even if it clears that hurdle, the Senate text would still need to be reconciled with the House’s 2025 version before anything could reach the president’s desk.

As things stand, the August recess functions as a hard deadline in the minds of the bill’s backers. The post-recess stretch runs into an election-year calendar that supporters fear could stall momentum, which is why several lawmakers describe the coming weeks as the bill’s best and possibly final opening this Congress.

Those issues include potential restrictions on President Donald Trump’s ability to profit from digital assets, how to fill empty seats at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), how to govern yields on stablecoins, and how to combat illicit finance, according to the report.

Senators interviewed by Semafor had differing views on the likelihood of a deal being struck on the crypto bill.

Sen. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) said lawmakers hope to get a bill to the Senate floor in July.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said of the negotiations: “There’s a path there, it’s just that we’re kind of running out of time.”

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) said: “I’m pretty down on the lack of progress.”

Supporters of the bill hope to reach a bipartisan deal before the fall midterm elections, which will take away momentum from this and other legislative priorities, per the report.

Bloomberg Government reported Thursday that Lummis said lawmakers will soon release an updated draft of the CLARITY Act that will address some of the outstanding issues.

Kristin Smith, president of the Solana Policy Institute, said in a Thursday post on X that while many people in the crypto community are concerned about the progress of the CLARITY Act, and there’s never a guarantee that legislation will pass, she strongly believes there is a path to get the bill to the President’s desk.

There are active conversations going on between senators of both parties, the White House, the crypto industry and other stakeholders, Smith said in another post.

“There are daily in-person meetings between key negotiators at the member level,” Smith said in a third post. “That wouldn’t be happening if no one thought this could go anywhere. In Congress, time is scarce, and CLARITY has a lot of attention.”

In Thursday post on X by the Blockchain Association, the organization’s CEO, Summer Mersinger, said that negotiations around outstanding issues in the CLARITY Act are “active, serious and solvable … A July vote should remain the goal — and is, in my view, absolutely achievable.”

Volatility Grips Bitcoin After Fresh YTD Low

After plummeting to a fresh year-to-date (YTD) low of $58,035 Thursday morning, bitcoin rebounded to erase its 24-hour losses. While the flat net performance paints a stable picture, the daily chart tells a different story—revealing violent price swings that triggered the moment bitcoin crossed below $59,000 on Wednesday.

Data shows bitcoin breached $61,000 less than three hours after tumbling to what was then its YTD low. Although it subsequently dropped below this level, the cryptocurrency traded close to it until shortly after midnight, when another rally eventually pushed it past $61,800. While it lost momentum before reaching $62,000, it nonetheless managed to hold above $61,000 until 9:20 a.m. EDT.

While its plunge to $58,000 took less than 30 minutes, a relief rally saw the cryptocurrency reclaim $59,000 about half an hour later. At the time of writing (1:42 p.m. EDT), the top cryptocurrency traded slightly above $59,500, translating to a mere 0.4% drop over 24 hours. This marginal drop left its market capitalization still under the $1.2 trillion mark.

With the June curtain closing, bitcoin is increasingly poised to clock 30-day losses north of 20% and leave the first half of 2026 bleeding out by more than 30%. The retreat exposes just how far the mighty have fallen; since scaling an all-time high of over $126,000 in October 2025, bitcoin has seen more than half of its peak value utterly erased.

A Crypto Crisis or a Macro Realignment?

Meanwhile, on the derivatives market, bitcoin’s price action over 24 hours saw $484 million in leveraged positions liquidated, with long bets accounting for approximately 70%, or $339 million. Overall, the crypto economy saw $1.01 billion in leveraged positions wiped out, with long bets accounting for $715 million.

As bitcoin continues to slide to fresh yearly lows, investor panic is palpable, forcing many to scramble for the exits. However, seasoned analysts argue this is a macro story, not a fundamental failure. Boris Alergant, head of GTM at Babylon Labs, maintains that the sell-off mirrors a broader, market-wide risk-off reset rather than an isolated crypto event. If anything, Alergant suggests, this volatility proves bitcoin is no longer an island—it is deeply integrated into the traditional financial machine.

“It reacts to liquidity, rates, positioning, and institutional flows in the same way other major macro assets do. Near term, I do think the market could remain under pressure through the summer. AI has been absorbing a significant amount of investor mindshare, capital, and talent that might otherwise have flowed into crypto. With major AI companies moving closer to the public markets, there also appears to be some repositioning happening across growth and technology exposure more broadly,” Alergant said.