Digital Chamber CEO Carbone Presses Senate for CLARITY Act Vote, Citing Financial Friction Cost to Americans

Cody Carbone, chief executive of The Digital Chamber, testified before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday pressing for passage of the CLARITY Act, arguing the crypto market-structure bill is a prerequisite for reducing financial costs that fall hardest on lower-income households.

In written testimony submitted to the committee, Carbone argued that blockchain-based rails can lower costs across three areas: cross-border remittances, everyday merchant payments, and asset ownership and transfer. The hearing, titled "The Affordability Agenda," came weeks after the Senate Banking Committee advanced the CLARITY Act on a 15-9 bipartisan vote on May 14, and with no Senate floor vote yet scheduled.

Carbone's Affordability Case

The testimony grounded the CLARITY Act argument in federal data. Carbone cited a May 2026 Federal Reserve report showing only 63 percent of adults could cover a hypothetical $400 emergency expense from cash or savings. He also cited FDIC data that 4.2 percent of U.S. households were unbanked in 2023 and another 14.2 percent underbanked, pointing to those groups as the ones most exposed to high-cost financial services.

On remittances, Carbone referenced World Bank data showing the global average cost of sending money abroad was 6.36 percent, more than double the 3 percent international target.

Carbone also cited Citi Institute projections from June 2026 that the global tokenized asset market could grow from approximately $17 billion today to $5.5 trillion by 2030.

Senate Floor Gap

The Senate's CLARITY Act problem is arithmetic. Republicans hold roughly 53 seats; the bill requires 60 votes to clear cloture. The Defiant reported last week that seven Democratic votes are the operative gate before the August recess. The two Democrats who backed the bill in committee, Ruben Gallego and Angela Alsobrooks, both attached caveats that their committee votes do not commit them to support final passage.

Carbone addressed the political argument directly in his testimony, arguing that regulatory uncertainty has a measurable cost: companies divert resources from product development to legal compliance, and banks hesitate to engage with digital-asset products where statutory authority is unclear. A Senate floor vote has not been scheduled. Senator Cynthia Lummis, the bill's lead Republican shepherd, has said an August-recess vote is more realistic than a pre-July-4 one.

New opposition emerged Tuesday alongside the legislative stall. Nearly 100 Catholic leaders have also urged the Senate to oppose the bill over the same provisions, per prior Defiant reporting. The Alliance to End Human Trafficking sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer urging review of Section 604, which incorporates the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, arguing the provision could weaken anti-money-laundering tools used to track trafficking-related financial activity, as crypto.news reported. Gambling industry organizations have separately pressed the Senate to clarify that the CLARITY Act would not expand Commodity Futures Trading Commission authority over sports betting on prediction-market platforms, per prior Defiant reporting on the gaming industry's push.

House July Calendar

The House Financial Services Committee has scheduled a July 17 field hearing dedicated to the CLARITY Act, titled "Building the Future of Finance: How the CLARITY Act Unlocks Innovation," to be held in New York. The hearing narrows the legislative window: Senate action before August, followed by a House floor vote rather than a conference committee, is the fastest available path to enactment.

The 1,200-company Consumer Technology Association coalition urged a Senate vote Monday, as did a coalition of more than 200 crypto firms on June 8. The bill's fate still turns on ethics and stablecoin-yield amendments that would bring the seven Democratic votes the calendar requires.