Senate negotiations over the CLARITY Act have hit another round of stops and starts, with Senate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman pointing to a surprising barrier: many senators still don’t fully grasp what’s in the bill. What happened - Senators met June 18 to push forward work on the market-structure legislation for digital assets. Much of the bill sits in the Agriculture Committee, which places Boozman and his panel squarely at the center of efforts to reach a floor vote, Punchbowl News reports. - After the meeting Boozman said talks are moving forward but warned that a knowledge gap among lawmakers remains one of the biggest hurdles to building broader Senate support. Where the disagreements actually are - Despite headlines about big policy fights, several sources suggest the remaining disputes may be narrower than they appear. David Nage, managing director and portfolio manager at Arca, told crypto.news that conversations with Senate offices indicate roughly 80–85% alignment between lawmakers and industry on the bill’s core elements. - Nage said stablecoin yield provisions — once a flashpoint and still criticized by figures like JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon — are no longer the focal issue. Instead, lawmakers are turning their attention to ethics and conflict-of-interest rules that would govern government officials’ involvement with crypto businesses. - According to Nage, debates now center on how to implement and enforce those restrictions rather than whether they should exist — making the divide more political and procedural than conceptual. Timing and next steps - Lawmakers face pressure to tidy up outstanding provisions before Washington empties for the August recess. Senate offices have scheduled a string of last-minute meetings to reconcile remaining language. - Nage’s base-case scenario: negotiators resolve the ethics language and reconcile competing proposals in the coming weeks, allowing the bill to reach the Senate floor after Congress returns from recess on July 13. - Political optimism varies. Senator Bill Hagerty told FOX Business he hopes to finish work before the July 4 recess, and White House crypto advisor Patrick Witt has also voiced hopes for an Independence Day timeline. Senator Cynthia Lummis, however, cautioned that a floor vote before the August recess is more likely than passage before July 4. What the bill would do - Supporters say the CLARITY Act would clarify the division of authority between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and set compliance standards for digital asset firms. - The proposal also includes about $150 million in funding aimed at combating illicit cryptocurrency activity. The stakes - Backers warn that missing this legislative window could push meaningful federal market-structure reform for crypto out for years. Lummis has warned that failure to advance the bill now could delay action until 2030. Bottom line: Major alignment exists on the bill’s core, but limited lawmaker familiarity and political wrangling over ethics and enforcement details are slowing progress as negotiators race a summer calendar. Read more AI-generated news on: undefined/news