According to BlockBeats, on May 15th, Senator Cynthia Lummis introduced amendments to the CLARITY Act's Banking Committee review, addressing the permissible scope of digital asset activities for banks and credit unions. The amendments include clarifying the types of transactions banks can conduct and expanding the scope to include depository institutions.
Senator Warren opposed the amendment, stating, "I acknowledge that this amendment makes some limited improvements to one part of the bill (significantly expanding the crypto-related activities that taxpayer-insured banks can participate in), but it's far from enough. Under this amendment, banks would be able to participate in decentralized finance transactions, lend against crypto assets as collateral, trade crypto assets directly, trade crypto derivatives, and so on—many of which could go wrong. Why are Republicans trying to move Americans' savings out of small business loans and mortgages? It doesn't make any sense. Even if this amendment passes, the next crypto crash could still cripple banks and, consequently, the entire economy. We should just remove this part altogether, instead of patching things up on the fringes and pretending the problem is solved."
The amendment passed with 19 votes in favor and 5 against. The Cryptocurrency Market Structure Act (CLARITY Act) is currently undergoing clause-by-clause voting on the amendment.
