CLARITY Act Hearing Tomorrow: Key Issues and Witnesses to Watch

Tomorrow is going to be a big day for the CLARITY Act as the House holds a special field hearing in New York. Although the bill cannot be approved at the hearing, the event is expected to build support before Congress begins its August recess. 

Here’s a look at the key issues that will be discussed and the list of witnesses set to testify.

House Makes Final Push Before August Deadline

On July 17, the U.S. House Financial Services Committee’s Subcommittee on Digital Assets, Financial Technology, and Artificial Intelligence will hold a field hearing titled “Building the Future of Finance: How the CLARITY Act Unlocks Innovation.”

While a field hearing cannot directly pass the CLARITY Act, it will use the event to gather expert opinions and build support for the bill before Congress begins its August recess.The hearing will bring together several leaders from the crypto and financial industry. The witness list includes:

• Ryan Louvar — Chief Legal Officer, WisdomTree (will discuss how tokenized assets can grow safely in the U.S. market)
• Sarah Aberg — Chief Legal Officer, Nova Labs Inc.
• Jason Somensatto — Director of Policy, Coin Center (will share views on crypto policy and regulation)
• Randi Abernethy — Head of Clearing and Group Risk, Bullish

Three Major Issues That Stuck the CLARITY Act

The CLARITY Act has already cleared several important stages. It passed the House in 2025 and later received 15-9 approval from the Senate Banking Committee in May 2026.

Now, the legislation remains stuck because lawmakers have not agreed on three major issues.

The first is an “Ethics Rule” that would restrict government officials from owning or trading cryptocurrencies while in office.

The second issue involves a “Developer Protection Clause”. The crypto industry says that open source software developers should not be held responsible if criminals misuse their code, while law enforcement wants stronger legal accountability for it.

The third disagreement centers on “Section 404”, which would prevent stablecoins from paying automatic interest or yield simply for holding the tokens.

Until these issues are resolved, the Senate is unlikely to hold a final vote.

Although the hearing cannot approve the bill, it is widely viewed as the House’s final effort to build public and political pressure before lawmakers leave for the August 7 congressional recess.