CLARITY Act Deadlock Puts White House Crypto Plan In Focus

With the CLARITY Act mired in Senate gridlock, the White House is signalling it will not wait for Congress to act. ETF Store President Nate Geraci says the administration appears ready to advance crypto policy through regulatory channels, pointing to a major meeting scheduled for August 19 as a clear sign of intent.

Who Is In the Room

President Trump is set to meet the heads of the SEC and CFTC alongside executives from Coinbase, Ripple, Gemini, Robinhood, Polymarket, Kalshi, the NYSE, Nasdaq, CME Group and the DTCC in a roundtable at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins will attend the White House event, confirmed by an SEC spokesperson to Bloomberg. CFTC Chairman Michael Selig is expected to participate ahead of the CFTC Innovation Advisory Committee's inaugural August 20 meeting.

The gathering functions as a small-group precursor to the CFTC's first Innovation Advisory Committee meeting the following day, which convenes for an opening session titled "Crypto's Regulatory Evolution: From Uncertainty to Clarity," with CFTC Chairman Mike Selig running point on the agenda. Organizers have not released a final attendee list and the president's participation has not been officially confirmed.

Why the Meeting Matters

The House passed the CLARITY Act in July 2025 by a 294-134 vote, but disagreements in the Senate over ethics, rewards, DeFi, and regulatory authority have prevented the bill's quick passage. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has scheduled a procedural vote for September 15, giving lawmakers another opportunity to move the bill forward when they return from recess. The delay has sharply reduced expectations that the legislation will become law this year, with Galaxy Digital research head Alex Thorn recently lowering his estimated probability of passage in 2026 to just 10%.

If the window closes without a cloture vote, attention will shift to administrative actions by the SEC and CFTC and the development of a revised legislative vehicle in the next Congress. Geraci's read is that the August 19 meeting could be an early signal that agencies are prepared to move ahead independently, using existing authority rather than waiting on Capitol Hill. The SEC is already preparing a rule package that would not require new legislation.

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