Coinbase CLARITY Act Optimistic as Cloture Vote Faces Ethics Fight

Coinbase policy chief Faryar Shirzad told crypto advocate Scott Melker that he remains cautiously optimistic the CLARITY Act can clear a critical Senate procedural vote scheduled for September 15. Coinbase is not assuming all 53 Senate Republicans will back the CLARITY Act, which means Democratic votes are essential to reach the 60-vote cloture threshold.

The vote in question is a cloture motion on the bill’s path to full Senate consideration, not a final passage vote. Clearing cloture opens debate and amendments, but the bill still needs to survive a later floor vote before it becomes law.

Shirzad described the years the industry has spent building bipartisan support as finally putting comprehensive Senate crypto regulation within reach, calling the legislative package a powerful one. He laid out two possible outcomes on September 15: the bill stalls just short of 60 votes, or enough Democrats cross over to trigger what Washington insiders term a jailbreak, where additional undecided senators feel safe voting yes once bipartisan momentum is visible.

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Shirzad identified the ethics language connected to President Trump’s crypto holdings as the single biggest risk to the bill’s advance. Senate Democrats continue to argue that the proposed ethics provisions fall short, while Republicans maintain that the legislation already contains meaningful safeguards.

UPDATE: Republican senators warn the CLARITY Act is "likely to FAIL" next week as talks stall over ethics rules governing Trump and his family, per Semafor.

Sen. Thom Tillis says the bill “is going to fail” unless the White House helps bridge the divide. https://t.co/cjCUWLznoE pic.twitter.com/ytnt5wUXFQ

Per Shirzad, the White House has accepted restrictions that apply specifically to the president, but Democrats may still demand further concessions before supplying the votes needed for cloture. Remaining disputes over DeFi provisions and exchange rules are, in his view, more likely to get resolved than the ethics standoff.

Stablecoin-related banking concerns add another layer of friction on the Republican side. Shirzad expects the White House to push lawmakers toward a compromise on that front, a dynamic that has already shaped how the industry frames the bill’s impact on bank deposits, a subject covered in detail regarding the CLARITY Act’s effect on the US banking sector.

The bill would split oversight of digital assets between the SEC and CFTC and bar government officials, including Trump, from operating crypto businesses, according to Reuters reporting. Trump reported more than $1.4 billion in income from his family’s crypto ventures last year, which is precisely why the ethics carve-outs have become the bill’s most contested section.

Democrats have pushed for stronger anti-money-laundering controls and for state attorneys general to have independent enforcement power over the presidential ban, per Reuters. Community bankers, meanwhile, have lobbied against provisions letting exchanges pay rewards on stablecoin holdings, arguing it would pull deposits away from traditional lenders.

BREAKING: A NEW AD JUST EXPOSED WHY THE BIG BANKS ARE TRYING TO KILL THE #BITCOIN CLARITY ACT

THEY RAKED IN RECORD PROFITS OF $300 BILLION LAST YEAR BY “SQUEEZING CONSUMERS AND SMALL BUSINESSES”

AND NOW THEY WANT TO “KILL THE BIPARTISAN CLARITY ACT”

THEY WANT "TO PREVENT… pic.twitter.com/eCvVpjIFHo

Failure at the procedural stage would not stop crypto regulation, according to Shirzad, who argued regulators would move to implement well over 100 individual rules through agency action to replicate much of the framework Congress failed to pass.

He expects crypto’s integration with traditional finance to keep advancing regardless, through tokenization, stablecoins, perpetual futures, and 24/7 markets. This is the CLARITY Act outcome Coinbase is positioning itself for by building toward a wider financial platform spanning investing, lending, and borrowing across asset classes.

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Prediction markets are pricing skepticism into that timeline. Kalshi traders have assigned a low probability to major crypto legislation becoming law this year. A signal worth weighing against Coinbase’s public optimism heading into September 15.

Traders positioning around the vote should treat September 15 as a gauge of momentum, not a resolution. A cloture win still leaves debate, amendments, and a final floor vote ahead.

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