Senate Banking Committee finalizes updated market structure bill draft

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The Senate Banking Committee on Friday afternoon finalized an updated version of its market structure bill, and it includes a key provision that industry members have been pushing.

The latest version of the Responsible Financial Innovation Act of 2025, which comes in at 182 pages, includes a section titled “protecting software developers and software innovation,” according to a copy of the draft reviewed by Blockworks.

It’s a section that is notably missing from the House’s market structure bill, the CLARITY Act.

Lawmakers are expected to consider the new version at the end of September, Blockworks reported last week.

The Senate’s new draft seeks to exclude certain actors from securities laws and disclosure requirements. It states that validators are exempt from anti-money laundering and anti-fraud compliance requirements.

The new version also stipulates that offering, selling or transferring an NFT does not constitute a securities offering or sale of an investment contract, something the House’s bill also did not include.

Friday’s discussion draft expands significantly on the 35-page draft Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.) — along with Sens. Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.), Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), and Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) — introduced in July.

Lawmakers are now tasked with turning the two pieces of legislation into one. Lummis, earlier this month at the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium, said she hopes to have a crypto market structure bill on President Donald Trump’s desk by Thanksgiving.

The CLARITY Act passed the House in a 294-134 vote. 78 Democrats voted in favor of the measure.

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