Bessent Pushes Senate to Pass CLARITY Act This Summer as Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Advances at “Deliberate Speed”

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told the Senate Finance Committee Wednesday that the Treasury Department is moving forward with the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve at “deliberate speed” and urged senators to pass the CLARITY Act before the summer recess. The remarks came during a hearing on the Department of the Treasury’s fiscal year 2027 budget.

“It’s very necessary to bring U.S. best practices onshore, and we work tirelessly in terms of custodying these assets and making the U.S. the innovation capital of the world,” Bessent told senators. “I look forward to the CLARITY Act being passed this summer.” On the reserve itself, he acknowledged the buildout is complex: “We are proceeding with all deliberate speed, and we are making sure that as we are doing this in this complicated process, we use best practices and things will be durable for the future.”

This story is an excerpt from the Unchained Daily newsletter.

The testimony reframes the timeline for both the reserve and federal market structure law. The Strategic Bitcoin Reserve was established by President Trump’s executive order on March 6, 2025 and holds approximately 207,000 BTC funded primarily through cryptocurrency seized in criminal and civil forfeitures rather than open-market purchases. The “deliberate speed” framing suggests the administration is not pursuing aggressive accumulation. Patrick Witt, executive director of the President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets, said in April that a “big announcement” on the reserve was coming within weeks. That announcement has not arrived.

The CLARITY Act push carries more immediate political weight. The bill, which passed the Senate Banking Committee 15-9 on May 14, would shift digital asset regulatory authority from the SEC to the CFTC and clarify rules covering DeFi and stablecoins. It has stalled over stablecoin yield rewards provisions that JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon has publicly opposed, software developer protections, and conflict-of-interest concerns tied to President Trump’s crypto ventures including World Liberty Financial and the $TRUMP memecoin. Sens. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren urged the Labor Department this week to scrap a related rule that would open 401(k) plans to crypto.

With midterms approaching and the legislative calendar tightening, the window for passage before recess is narrowing. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse has estimated odds at 80-90%, but the bill must still survive floor votes in both chambers.

Related Listen: Bits + Bips: How the Dimon vs. Armstrong Clash Reveals Crypto at Peak Political Power