The Senate Banking Committee advanced the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act in a 15-9 vote on Thursday, with Democratic Senators Ruben Gallego of Arizona and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland crossing over to join all Republicans. The bill now moves to a reconciliation process with the Senate Agriculture Committee before heading to the floor. Bitcoin traded near $82,000 on the news, recovering from Wednesday's sub-$80k post-PPI slide.

The vote closes the markup process that began Wednesday with more than 100 filed amendments. Most Democratic amendments were rejected on near-party-line votes, including Senator Elizabeth Warren's package of forty-plus items aimed at tightening consumer protections, and Senator Jack Reed's amendment to scrap Section 409's DeFi developer exclusion. Senator Bill Hagerty's amendment banning a future US central bank digital currency passed on the GOP majority. The 15-9 margin gives the bill clear committee approval but signals the contested floor fight ahead.

Chairman Tim Scott (R-S.C.) framed the result as the most substantive movement on crypto market structure in eight years. Gallego and Alsobrooks both signaled that the SEC and CFTC jurisdictional split and the stablecoin regulatory framework were sufficient to earn their support, while flagging concerns about the DeFi developer exemptions that may resurface on the floor. The bill now enters a reconciliation phase with the Senate Agriculture Committee, which has jurisdiction over commodities-classified digital assets via its oversight of the CFTC. A compromise text will need to be negotiated before the bill reaches the full Senate.

Bitcoin traded near $82,000 on Thursday, recovering from Wednesday's $79,400 low after the 6 percent PPI print. Ethereum held above $2,300. Coinbase (COIN) led crypto-equity gainers on the vote, with the stock up over 4 percent in early trade. Circle (CRCL) gained similarly on the stablecoin clarity that the bill provides. The broader crypto complex outperformed the equity tape on the regulatory tailwind.

For the industry, committee passage validates two years of lobbying effort and sets up the next-and-harder fight: 60 Senate votes for floor passage. Republicans have 53 seats; the Gallego and Alsobrooks defection suggests a workable path to 60 if a half-dozen more moderate Democrats find pieces they can support after reconciliation. For traders, the structural-bid case for spot BTC and ETH gets a fresh data point, but the lockup-of-uncertainty trade (long crypto-equities, short volatility) became more attractive than direct spot exposure. The risk is reconciliation fails or stretches into the August recess.

The committee math says the bill can pass. The floor math says how, and when, is still open.