Galaxy Digital’s Alex Thorn sees Bipartisan opening in CLARITY Act update

Galaxy Digital’s head of firmwide research, Alex Thorn, says the long-delayed CLARITY Act may finally be entering a decisive bipartisan phase. This comes as the new Senate Banking Committee revisions and a scheduled markup inject fresh momentum into the U.S. crypto market structure bill.

The Senate Banking Committee released a new draft of the CLARITY Act on May 12 and scheduled a vote on the bill for Thursday, May 14, at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time

The sneaky political move buried in Section 904

Alex Thorn posted on X Monday morning, pointing to the addition of the Build Now Act in Section 904. 

The provision is a housing policy that would change how the federal government distributes Community Development Block Grant money.

Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana and Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts introduced the bill to address the U.S. housing shortage.

“Including Build Now may be a way to solidify Kennedy’s support… Elizabeth Warren is also a cosponsor. This adds a bit more bipartisan ‘gravitas’ to CLARITY, though the odds are low that notorious ‘anti-crypto army’ leader Warren votes for CLARITY just because Build Now is inside it.” — Alex Thorn, Galaxy Digital, X post, May 12, 2026

So why is a housing bill inside a crypto law? Politics.

According to Thorn, Senator Kennedy has been dragging his feet on the crypto bill for far too long. Including his signature housing project inside the CLARITY Act is just a way to get him to vote yes on Thursday. 

If he votes no, his own housing bill dies too. The Build Now Act has already passed the full Senate twice, in March 2026 and again in October 2025, as part of a larger bill. 

However, it was dropped in the House and is now awaiting action, so attaching it to the CLARITY Act gives it a second chance to become law. 

As for Warren, Thorn says the odds are low that she votes yes on Thursday just because the bill she co-sponsored is attached.

What else changed in the new 309-page bill?

The new CLARITY Act bans exchange companies from paying users interest just for holding stablecoins, as banks do with interest on savings accounts.

However, it allows rewards tied to real activity on the platforms, such as using a wallet, making payments, providing liquidity, staking, or participating in loyalty programs. 

U.S. banks still rejected this compromise on May 9, preferring a full ban on all yield-like payments. 

But Coinbase, the White House, and the Council of Economic Advisers all publicly backed the deal, weakening the banks’ argument about deposit flight. 

The bill also protects software developers from being classified as money transmitters just for writing code.

Developers once worried that the law would criminalize them just for creating decentralized finance tools. But the new version gives them immunity unless they intentionally help move money they know came from crime.

Similarly, the bill provides clear boundaries for validators, node operators, oracle providers, and sequencers. These tools and services do not require registration with the SEC or compliance with banking laws to perform their jobs. 

Tokenization has also been limited to securities alone, and the SEC has been given sole authority over the framework. 

Lastly, Section 702 protects crypto trades in the event of an exchange platform’s bankruptcy.

Trading partners will not be frozen out of recovering their collateral in such incidents.

Senator Lummis called the May 12 release “one step closer to passage.” Chairman Tim Scott said the bill “delivers the certainty, safeguards, and accountability Americans deserve.” Senator Tillis called it a “bipartisan compromise” and said he looks forward to sending it to President Trump’s desk soon.

But all those words can only mean something after the Thursday vote. 

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