Alsobrooks: Clarity Act needs ethics deal before Senate…

Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) says she will not vote for the Clarity Act on the Senate floor until negotiators resolve outstanding ethics provisions, illicit finance language, and pending work in the Agriculture Committee. Speaking on CoinDesk's The Policy Protocol, she described her committee vote advancing the bill as support for continued negotiations — not a commitment to final passage. "We're almost there, but not quite there yet," she said.

Why it matters

Alsobrooks framed the remaining obstacles as structural, not cosmetic. Ethics concerns — partly tied to questions about President Trump's business interests in the digital asset space — remain a major sticking point alongside illicit finance provisions championed by Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto. She argued that Democratic skepticism toward crypto legislation is less about the technology than about corruption and fraud risk, and that staying at the table is the only way to protect constituents in the final rules.

On stablecoins, Alsobrooks defended compromise language that bars crypto firms from paying yield solely on stablecoin balances and blocks products that mimic bank accounts without equivalent protections — a nine-month negotiation she said was designed to prevent deposit flight from community banks, even as it drew criticism from JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon.

Market impact

The Clarity Act's path to a Senate floor vote now has at least three named gates: ethics provisions, illicit finance language, and an Agriculture Committee bipartisan agreement. Until all three close, the bill does not move. For crypto markets, this signals that comprehensive U.S.