At a Washington event on April 22, 2026, Senator Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) delivered a clear ultimatum, declaring that the CLARITY Act must clear Congress by the end of May. This isn’t just another optimistic prediction. With the legislative clock ticking, Moreno’s deadline has become Congress’s last real chance to deliver long-awaited regulatory certainty to the U.S. crypto industry.
Moreno also said missing that deadline could shelve the bill indefinitely. Those two statements together define exactly where U.S. crypto market structure legislation stands today.
Moreno Also Pushed Back on Bank Lobbying Noise
On stablecoin yield opposition, Moreno was blunt. “There’s a lot of noise in the market, but most of it is fake,” he said, adding that banks also need to innovate.
That comment came as the North Carolina Bankers Association was urging member banks to call Senator Thom Tillis’s (R-N.C) office directly to oppose the stablecoin yield compromise, a move confirmed by Terrett on April 18.
On April 20, the blockchain industry group, The Digital Chamber, sent a formal letter to Senate leaders demanding that the bill move to a markup stage immediately. Both actions land in the same week, which tells you how compressed the timeline is.
Five Steps Remain, and Congress Shuts Down May 21
As Disruption Banking detailed when the stablecoin yield compromise was reached in March, the CLARITY Act still needs to clear five sequential hurdles before it reaches President Trump’s desk: a Senate Banking Committee markup, a full Senate floor vote requiring 60 votes, reconciliation with the Senate Agriculture Committee version (which passed committee in January 2026), reconciliation with the House-passed text from July 2025, and a presidential signature.
The House cleared the bill 294–134 last year. The Senate hasn’t taken a single formal vote.
Congress breaks for Memorial Day recess on May 21. Galaxy Research analyst Alex Thorn has noted that with roughly 18 working weeks remaining before the midterm recess in October, every week of Senate delay shrinks the floor consideration window to the point where 2026 passage becomes structurally implausible without Banking Committee clearance this month.
Moreno said it plainly at the DC Blockchain Summit in March: “If we don’t get the Clarity Act passed by May, digital asset legislation will not pass for the foreseeable future.”
Warsh Hearing Is Eating Into the Senate’s April Window
Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott (R-SC) targeted a markup in the second half of April. This week, however, Banking Committee members are focused on the Kevin Warsh nomination hearing, Trump’s pick to replace Fed Chair Jerome Powell, whose term ends May 15. Every day the Warsh hearing absorbs floor time is a day the markup doesn’t happen.
Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo) confirmed at the DC Blockchain Summit that DeFi provisions are finalised and that markup is still targeted for late April. Coinbase Chief Policy Officer Faryar Shirzad also projected an April markup and a May Senate floor vote. If markup slips beyond April, the bill has three weeks to win Democratic votes and pass before recess begins.
Polymarket odds of the CLARITY Act passing in 2026 moved from 38% to 46% following Moreno’s April 22 statement. Encouraging, but nowhere near confident.
Innovation Won’t Wait for Washington
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has warned that regulatory delay pushes digital asset innovation toward Dubai and Singapore, which are actively courting U.S. crypto capital. Y Combinator, the leading VC fund, made its first stablecoin investment in April 2026. Q1 2026 saw a record $297 billion in global venture funding, with a growing share directed at crypto and AI-adjacent infrastructure.
Without the CLARITY Act, that capital still moves, just without U.S. legal protection, institutional guardrails, or SEC-CFTC clarity. As we noted earlier this month, when White House adviser Patrick Witt signaled final hurdles were clearing, the bill had a path. It just doesn’t have much runway left.
Author: Ayanfe Fakunle
The editorial team at #DisruptionBanking has taken all precautions to ensure that no persons or organisations have been adversely affected or offered any sort of financial advice in this article. This article is most definitely not financial advice.
See Also:
CLARITY Act Deadlock: Coinbase Chief Policy Officer Predicts Senate Floor Vote in May | Disruption Banking
CLARITY Act Breakthrough: White House Adviser Signals Final Hurdles are Toppling Fast | Disruption Banking
Trump Backs Coinbase on CLARITY Act | Disruption Banking
