White House Targets July 4 for Clarity Act Passage: Crypto Adviser

The White House is targeting July 4 for House passage of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, according to Patrick Witt, executive director of the President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets.

Speaking at Consensus Miami, Witt said, “I think that would be a tremendous birthday present for America, celebrating our 250th.”

The administration’s timeline calls for Senate Banking Committee markup this month, followed by a Senate floor vote in June and House passage before the July 4 deadline. Witt acknowledged the compressed schedule while expressing confidence in its feasibility. “There’s not a lot of slack left in the rope right now. But it is an achievable timeline,” he said.

The path to passage cleared significantly after Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) reached a compromise on stablecoin yield provisions Friday. The agreement prohibits bank-deposit-equivalent yield while allowing activity-based rewards tied to spending. “Crypto is unhappy, banks are unhappy, but they’re both about equally unhappy. And so we know that we got the right compromise,” Witt said.

Industry leaders and lawmakers offered mixed assessments of the timeline’s feasibility. Paul Grewal, Coinbase’s chief legal officer, stated Wednesday that, “I’m very confident we’re going to see the Clarity Act pass this summer at the latest,” adding, “I very much encourage the banking trade to not snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.”

Last week, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott described the bill as being in the “red zone,” while Senator Kirsten Gillibrand offered a more cautious timeline, saying Wednesday that it could be completed by the first week of August “if we’re lucky.”

Witt framed the legislation as essential for maintaining U.S. leadership in digital assets, warning that “If we’re not setting the standard, if we’re not writing the rules, then we are going to be a rule follower, and we’re going to be following somebody else’s rulebook on this.  And God forbid it’s China that’s ultimately writing those rules.”

The Clarity Act’s progress through Congress has been slow, with previous attempts to pass the bill foundering as crypto and banking interests failed to reach compromise on key issues. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse warned that the next two weeks are critical, noting that if Senate markup doesn’t happen soon, the likelihood of the bill passing “is going to drop precipitously” as midterm politics intensify.