A second window may be opening for the CLARITY Act before the current Congress expires. Adrian Wall, managing director of the Digital Sovereignty Alliance, says senators from both parties are considering another attempt to advance the crypto market structure bill during the lame-duck session.
Another attempt implies a prior one. The bill has moved through some portion of the legislative process without reaching a final floor vote. Wall serves as managing director of the Digital Sovereignty Alliance, a policy advocacy organization. That role is the basis for his read on current Senate activity.
Bipartisan interest is the structural variable that matters most. Getting legislation through the Senate requires clearing the cloture threshold before a bill can advance to a final vote. Wall's account places senators from both parties in the "considering" column, which is the precondition for realistic floor progress.
The lame-duck period opens after November's elections and runs through early January, when the new Congress is seated. Bills that do not advance in that window expire with the session and must be reintroduced from scratch. No procedural history carries forward. For legislation that has built up momentum and cross-party support, that reset is real cost. It gives Wall's assessment more urgency than a standard scheduling update.
The CLARITY Act is a crypto market structure bill. Market structure legislation determines how digital assets are classified and which regulator has primary jurisdiction. The operating rules for trading venues follow from those foundational calls. That framework, written into statute, is harder to reverse through executive action than agency guidance. For digital asset markets, the protocol question precedes the price question. Getting market structure law settled is the precondition for the rest.
Wall did not name specific senators or confirm that a floor vote is scheduled. Bipartisan interest and floor time are separate variables, and the lame-duck calendar is compressed. Appropriations and other unfinished business typically absorb the available weeks. Leadership controls what reaches the floor, and legislative interest that lacks a confirmed schedule slot rarely converts. The distance between "considering" and "scheduled" is where lame-duck bills most often stall.
The window closes in January. Wall says it has not closed yet.