The CLARITY Act amendment, which defines the scope of banks' crypto trading activities, has been approved.

BlockBeats reported that on May 15, Senator Cynthia Lummis introduced an amendment during the Senate Banking Committee's review of the CLARITY Act, concerning the permissible scope of banks and credit unions in digital asset activities. The amendment clarifies the types of transactions banks can conduct and expands the applicable scope to insured depository institutions.

Senator Warren opposed the amendment, stating, “I acknowledge that this amendment makes some limited improvements to one part of the bill (significantly expanding the crypto-related activities that taxpayer-insured banks can engage in), but it still falls far short. Under this amendment, banks would be able to participate in decentralized finance transactions, make loans backed by crypto assets as collateral, directly trade crypto assets, and trade crypto derivatives, among other things—many of which could go wrong. Why are Republicans attempting to divert Americans' deposits from small business loans and home loans? That makes no sense. Even if this amendment passes, the next crypto crash could still bring down banks and, in turn, the entire economy. We should simply remove this section, not tinker around the edges and pretend the problem is fixed.”

The amendment was passed with 19 votes in favor and 5 against. The Crypto Market Structure Bill (that is, the CLARITY Act) is currently voting and debating each amendment clause by clause.