What the Revised CLARITY Act Says About DeFi A revised version of the CLARITY Act is drawing a sharper regulatory line around decentralized finance protocols that are not, in practice, truly
A revised version of the CLARITY Act is drawing a sharper regulatory line around decentralized finance protocols that are not, in practice, truly decentralized. The updated bill would direct U.S. regulators to determine whether people or groups controlling "non-decentralized finance trading protocols" must comply with securities, commodities, and anti-money laundering (AML) requirements.
The revised text defines such a protocol as one whose functionality, operation, or rules can be materially altered by a person or coordinated group, and also covers protocols whose controllers can restrict users or whose transactions are not governed solely by transparent, pre-established code.
The provision seeks to separate systems operating without a controlling party from platforms marketed as decentralized while retaining identifiable management or upgrade authority. Importantly, participation in an incident-response or security council would not, by itself, establish control over a protocol, a carve-out aimed at preserving emergency-response mechanisms without pulling their participants into regulatory scope.
Under the framework, the SEC and CFTC would write activity-based rules covering registration, conduct, disclosure, recordkeeping, and supervision. Treasury would then determine how existing Bank Secrecy Act obligations apply to affected controllers.
Senator Cynthia Lummis said the new text reflects negotiations conducted during August and contains "over 100 changes requested by Democrats."
The Senate delayed a floor vote ahead of the August 2026 recess due to partisan disagreements over ethics rules and banking opposition, scheduling a procedural vote for September 15, 2026, a cloture vote on the motion to proceed that requires 60 votes to overcome a filibuster and allow the Senate to formally begin debating the bill.
Republicans control 53 Senate seats, so at least seven Democrats would need to join a unified GOP conference to hit the 60-vote cloture threshold.Ethics, BRCA, and stablecoin reward disputes remain unresolved before the vote.If the bill fails to secure these votes, it will essentially be dead for 2026.
CoinTelegraph: Revised CLARITY Act Sets Rules for Controlled DeFi | Latham and Watkins: US Crypto Policy Tracker | CoinDesk: Senate Opens First Stage of CLARITY Act Voting
