In late May, members of the House introduced the Digital Assets Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act. This is a new iteration of a discussion draft Meredith blogged about in mid-May — a bill that was previously called FIT 21 and was passed by the House on May 22.

This Troutman Pepper Locke alert says that the bill may actually be more complex and confusing than its title suggests, including with respect to when a digital asset is a security:

Despite promises of clarity in the Act’s short title, its definitions and numerous cross references to securities and commodities statutes and rules provide a complex and potentially confusing approach to clarifying status as a security and, accordingly, regulatory jurisdiction over digital assets.

Digital commodities and permitted payment stablecoins — which are currently the subject of proposed regulation under H.R. 2392, the Stablecoin Transparency and Accountability for a Better Ledger Economy Act of 2025 (the STABLE Act of 2025) — would expressly be excluded from the definition of “security” under the securities laws. In addition, the Act clarifies that a digital asset that is directly transferable peer-to-peer and recorded on the blockchain is not an “investment contract” and, therefore, not a security.

It also “distances the digital assets regulatory regime from existing securities and commodities laws” in a number of other ways and leaves gaps that it requires the CFTC to address through rulemaking that, in some cases, must be joint with the SEC.

After a Full Committee Markup hearing on June 10, the bill passed the House Committee on Financial Services and the House Agriculture Committee on Wednesday with bipartisan support. CoinDesk reports that the markups from each committee will be combined into a unified committee report to be considered by the full House.

– John Jenkins