Kristin Smith on Why the Clarity Act Comes Down to a Memecoin

Kristin Smith walks through the vote math, the ethics fight, and what happens to crypto capital if the Clarity Act stalls before the midterms. The Senate needs 60 votes to pass crypto's market structure bill, the Clarity Act, before an August recess deadline just weeks away. Majority Leader John Thune says the votes likely will not be there in time, and Polymarket puts the odds of passage this year at roughly 30 percent. Kristin Smith, President of the Solana Policy Institute, joins Laura Shin to explain why a deal that seemed close has snagged on ethics language Trump agreed to but Senate Democrats do not trust the Department of Justice to enforce. Smith walks through the vote math behind 53 Senate Republicans and the Democrats who backed last year's Genius Act, the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act's protections for developers, and the new commodities pathway for token launches. She also maps where the sidelined capital goes, from the Middle East to Japan, if Clarity misses its window before the midterms. Host Laura Shin - Founder, CEO and Host of Unchained Guest Kristin Smith - President of the Solana Policy Institute Sponsor Cape: Your biggest crypto vulnerability isn't your wallet, it's your phone number. Cape is America's privacy-first mobile carrier that rotates your SIM identity daily and blocks SIM swaps before they happen. Get 33% off your first six months at https://cape.co/unchained (use code: UNCHAINED). Timestamps: 🗳️ 00:51 Why Clarity's Senate timeline looks so tight before the August recess 📣 09:20 Cape: Get 33% off your first six months with code unchained at https://cape.co/unchained ⚖️ 10:16 Why Trump's ethics language deal became Clarity's toughest sticking point 🏛️ 18:34 Kristin Smith on the Clarity Act provisions that most excite the industry 🌍 23:31 What happens to crypto capital and global leadership if Clarity fails Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices