CLARITY ACT Delayed? #CryptoTownHall

**Scott Melker** (0:00)
Good morning, everybody, welcome to Crypto Town Hall. Every other weekday here on X at 10, 15 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, we've got a lot that we can dig into today. We have Clarity Act Delayed as the main topic here, although I'm not sure that Clarity Act being delayed should surprise anybody at this point. But the news basically is that the Clarity Act is off the Senate schedule for next week. We're supposed to have a hearing, I think, today, but nothing specific to the Clarity about crypto. And then the expectation was that Tim Scott would have the crypto market structure bill markup scheduled for next week, potentially the week after, but certainly by the end of April, it's not currently on the docket. That has to eventually align with Senate agriculture, and then pass the 60 vote Senate floor, which needs the Democrats, then it needs to reconcile in the House. And all of this when we haven't even seen the stable coin language, which in my opinion is the smallest problem that we have, because especially if we already had a Donald Trump ethics issue, the Democrats obviously want ethics language, Trump doesn't, now we have the World Liberty Financial situation blowing up at the exact same time. So once again, my position is that Clarity Act is very unlikely to pass, very, very small chance, but others think otherwise.
I guess we can start there. I want to talk about STRC for sure, and quite a few other things. But anybody, any inside baseball or color here on what's happening with the Clarity Act or disagree with what I'm saying, there's no Dave, guys, and I can't talk all day. So I just need you guys to jump in and raise your hands.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:40)
He did feel optimistic about this, Scott, that it would get done by the summer. So whatever that little hope of optimism might be, I know that you speak to a lot of folks, and you have your own opinion. But Tim Scott seems optimistic that it might get done by summer.

**Scott Melker** (1:53)
I think Tim Scott's been saying optimistic by next month or a year.

**Jamie** (1:59)
Yeah, my concern, Scott, is the language. I want to see it.
I think that the callers mentioned this as well. The biggest concern is that this gets put in last minute, and that's the biggest opportunity for there to be language in there that's not beneficial or favorable for the crypto community. And so I really think that's where we need to focus at to get this thing parsed through so we can hopefully get through everything for our benefit.

**Scott Melker** (2:29)
Okay. If I'm pessimistic, Jamie, about the odds of it getting passed, I'm 10 times more pessimistic about it being favorable legislation for the industry.

**Jamie** (2:38)
I agree with you.

**Scott Melker** (2:39)
I mean, if anything, I would say that the Clarity Act as it has read, and from what I'm hearing from people who won't say the quiet parts out loud on the press, but then we'll tell you things privately. It's basically an act that gives the banks clarity as to what they can do in crypto.

**Jamie** (3:00)
I agree 100 percent. I think I'm very skeptical at this point. The way things have gone and the way this has been handled, I'm not. Not that I otherwise am.
The way politicians are and things that go to our benefit, but yeah, I'm waiting for the sledgehammer to fall.

**Scott Melker** (3:24)
Yeah, so I guess the next natural question is, if it passes, what does it mean for the industry? And if it doesn't pass, what does it mean for the industry? I guess maybe that'll spark a bit of conversation. I think obviously the non-Brian Armstrong part of the industry says, a bad bill is better than no bill. And Brian Armstrong very clearly says no bill is better than a bad bill. I think, listen, I agree with him generally, actually. But we also know that Coinbase is able to offer yield right now. So they're in a favorable position of nothing happening, being potentially good for their business. And I think he has a duty to his shareholders. So I think if it doesn't pass, maybe that's good for Coinbase. I don't know what it means for the industry. What if it does? I mean, does anybody think that this could actually be the catalyst that sends the market in some way?
Feel free to raise hands.

**SPEAKER_4** (4:14)
No, this bill means nothing to Bitcoin.

**Scott Melker** (4:19)
I agree with that.

**SPEAKER_4** (4:20)
I agree with you, dude. A bad bill. Look, to me, the biggest indicator here is how much lobby pressure the banks are putting on delaying this thing. To me, it's a very good indicator that Bitcoin is going to work. They don't like it, they're fighting it.