{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.thune.senate.gov/news/press-releases/thune-on-the-clarity-act-regulatory-certainty-is-key-to-american-leadership-in-digital-assets/", "Thune on the Clarity Act: Regulatory Certainty Is Key to American Leadership in Digital Assets", "2026-09-15", "2026", "2026-09", "Republican", "Senate", "SD", "John Thune", "T000250", "www.thune.senate.gov", "thune", "https://www.thune.senate.gov/news/press-releases/", "scraper", "Click here to watch the video.\n\nWASHINGTON \u2014 U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) today delivered the following remarks on the Senate floor:\n\nThune\u2019s remarks below (as delivered):\n\n\u201cLast year Congress passed the GENIUS Act \u2013 which is the first bill regulating digital assets ever to become law.\n\n\u201cAnd the GENIUS Act was a landmark bill for more reasons than just being the first.\n\n\u201cIt applied a light-touch approach to digital asset regulation that provides clear rules of the road for stablecoins while allowing space for continued innovation \u2013 and encouraging that innovation to happen right here in the United States.\n\n\u201cMr. President, we\u2019ve already seen the positive effects of that approach.\n\n\u201cStablecoin market capitalization increased by 49 percent in 2025, due in part to the regulatory clarity provided by the GENIUS Act.\n\n\u201cVisa and Mastercard have been investing in stablecoin-linked credit cards amid heightened demand for such cards.\n\n\u201cVisa alone tripled its offering of stablecoin-linked credit cards last year.\n\n\u201cAnd one Visa executive called the GENIUS Act a huge turning point for the industry.\n\n\u201cMr. President, thanks to clear regulatory guidelines for stablecoins, the digital asset industry is moving in the right direction in the United States.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s a stark contrast to how things were under the Biden administration.\n\n\u201cNot long ago, digital assets operated in a legal gray zone in this country.\n\n\u201cThe Biden administration was regulating crypto companies with arbitrary enforcement measures \u2013 subjecting crypto firms to numerous lawsuits.\n\n\u201cAnd these hostile actions led a number of U.S.-based companies to consider moving out of the United States altogether.\n\n\u201cMr. President, we can all agree that the United States should be the world\u2019s leader in financial innovation.\n\n\u201cAnd as the GENIUS Act proves, innovation surges with certainty.\n\n\u201cWhen we passed the GENIUS Act over a year ago, I said market structure legislation would be the next logical step.\n\n\u201cToday, thanks to the leadership of Senator Lummis and Chairmen Scott and Boozman and a lot of hard work from a number of our colleagues on both sides of the aisle, the Senate has the opportunity to take that step with the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act.\n\n\u201cMr. President, the Clarity Act would apply the same approach that we took on stablecoins in the GENIUS Act to the entire digital asset ecosystem.\n\n\u201cIt would provide clear rules of the road while encouraging innovation to happen right here in America.\n\n\u201cTo begin with, the Clarity Act distinguishes the jurisdictions of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission, while ensuring that the CFTC and the SEC still work together to harmonize their rules.\n\n\u201cThe Clarity Act also ensures that companies can\u2019t skirt securities laws that apply to other financial assets.\n\n\u201cAnd it protects the growing number of Americans investing in and utilizing \u2026 digital assets.\n\n\u201cIt provides everyday Americans with the information they need to make investment decisions, prevents value manipulation schemes, and ensures that law enforcement has the tools that it needs to go after bad actors and fraud.\n\n\u201cMr. President, anyone concerned about another failure like the FTX collapse a few years ago should want to see the Clarity Act pass quickly.\n\n\u201cThis bill would prevent another FTX.\n\n\u201cIt would require exchanges to be subject to examination, and provide transparency so that regulators can intervene before harm becomes widespread.\n\n\u201cIt would prevent companies from using customers\u2019 funds as their own, as FTX did.\n\n\u201cAnd it would ensure that exchanges and their affiliates can\u2019t trade on their own platforms.\n\n\u201cMr. President, this bill has support from large financial institutions and law enforcement organizations, and it\u2019s had bipartisan support from the beginning.\n\n\u201cAs I said, this bill has been a bipartisan work in progress for over a year \u2013 with roots that go back even before that.\n\n\u201cIn the last year, 126 substantive changes have been made to the bill at the request of our Democrat colleagues.\n\n\u201cThe Clarity Act was reported out of the Banking Committee on a bipartisan vote.\n\n\u201cAnd over the weekend, Senators Lummis, Boozman, and Scott released a final draft that incorporated even more of Democrats\u2019 demands in the interest of moving forward with this bill.\n\n\u201cThe question now is whether Democrats will take yes for an answer.\n\n\u201cMr. President, digital assets are firmly rooted in the United States.\n\n\u201cOne in five American adults has invested in or used cryptocurrency.\n\n\u201cThe overwhelming majority of crypto owners want clear rules of the road and protections like those provided in the GENIUS Act and the Clarity Act.\n\n\u201cMr. President, this is a shared priority for Republicans, Democrats, and President Trump.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve been working at it now for over a year.\n\n\u201cThe only reason for this progress to end now would be if Democrats choose politics over good policy.\n\n\u201cAnd now is not the time for political games.\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve seen what regulatory certainty did to promote innovation and growth in stablecoins.\n\n\u201cWe have an opportunity to do that across the entire digital asset industry by passing the Clarity Act.\n\n\u201cWe should take the opportunity, Mr. President, before us to ensure this innovation happens right here in America and that the United States remains the leader in financial technology well into the future.\u201d", 1, "2026-09-16T09:43:13Z", "2026-09-16T09:44:22Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.thune.senate.gov/news/press-releases/thune-on-the-clarity-act-regulatory-certainty-is-key-to-american-leadership-in-digital-assets/"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.0645920410752296, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}