"Crypto Week" Legislative Action (July 14-18, 2025) The U.S. Congress will advance three key bills during "Crypto Week": the CLARITY Act, the Anti-Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) Act, and the GENIUS Act. These three bipartisan pieces of legislation are designed to clarify the regulatory framework for crypto, prevent government overreach, and provide legal clarity for the digital asset industry.
CLARITY Act: Clarifying Crypto Market Structure The CLARITY Act divides digital assets into three categories: digital commodities, stablecoins, and excluded assets, and clarifies the regulatory authority of the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) and the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission). The bill also introduces a "bright line test" to determine whether a crypto asset is a commodity, and stipulates rules for trading platform registration, consumer protection, and financing exemptions.
Anti-CBDC and GENIUS Act: Limiting Fed Power and Regulating Stablecoins The Anti-CBDC Act prohibits the Fed from developing or issuing any form of digital dollars, making the United States one of the few major economies that explicitly prohibits retail central bank digital currencies. The GENIUS Act establishes a federal regulatory framework for stablecoins, requiring 100% reserve support, transparent disclosure, and a strict licensing system, while prohibiting algorithmic stablecoins and payment-type stablecoins with returns.
Introduction
In July 2025, the U.S. Congress will hold a week-long "Crypto Week" (July 14-18) to deliberate on comprehensive cryptocurrency legislation. Republican leaders of the House Financial Services Committee and the Agriculture Committee called this special meeting "Crypto Week" and promised to quickly advance three landmark bills: the CLARITY Act, the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act, and the Senate's GENIUS Act.
During Crypto Week, the House will debate and (in many cases) vote on each bill. All three bills have received bipartisan support in their respective committees. For example, the CLARITY Act has passed the House Financial Services and Agriculture Committees; the Anti-CBDC Act has also passed the House Financial Services Committee. And the Senate has approved the GENIUS Act, which is awaiting action in the House.
Overall, these measures are designed to clarify responsibilities for regulators, protect consumers, and prevent excessive government power in the cryptocurrency space, covering topics ranging from crypto market structure to privacy and stablecoin rules.
CLARITY Act: Crypto Market Structure
The CLARITY Act (Clarity in Digital Asset Markets Act of 2025) is a bipartisan bill that aims to establish a unified regulatory framework for digital assets. The core goal is to resolve the issue of which agency - the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) - will regulate different cryptocurrencies.
Bill highlights:
Three-tier classification: Tokens are divided into (1) digital commodities (such as Bitcoin), (2) stablecoins, and (3) excluded digital assets. Importantly, commodities are fully regulated by the CFTC, while securities ("investment contracts") are still regulated by the SEC.
Clear CFTC responsibilities: The CFTC becomes the primary regulator of most cryptocurrency spot and derivative transactions, and requires crypto exchanges to register with the CFTC instead of the SEC.
Funding exemption: Issuers can raise up to $75 million per year through a new registration exemption mechanism to encourage small-scale financing.
Consumer protection: Trading platforms must comply with anti-fraud, anti-money laundering (AML/KYC) and reporting regulations, and must separate customer funds, disclose reserves, etc.
The bill also introduces a “bright-line test” to determine whether digital assets are commodities rather than securities:
Time maturity: at least four years after the initial token offering
Capital limit: no more than $75 million in financing in the past 12 months
Distribution requirements: no single entity controls more than 10% of the tokens
Decentralized governance: no single party can unilaterally change the agreement
In the legislative process, the CLARITY Act has passed the House Financial Services and Agriculture Committees and is currently on the “Joint Schedule”, awaiting a vote by the full House. If passed by the House, the bill will be submitted to the Senate for deliberation.
If passed, it will become the first comprehensive federal crypto market structure law in the United States, significantly reducing the SEC's enforcement authority in the crypto field and giving the CFTC new spot platform regulatory powers. Supporters believe that this will promote innovation and strengthen consumer protection; critics worry that it may weaken securities protection and leave legal loopholes. But in any case, it will reshape the way American crypto companies operate.
Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act: Banning Digital Dollars
In July this year, the House of Representatives will consider the Anti-CBDC Surveillance State Act, which prohibits the Federal Reserve from creating retail central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). The bill will explicitly prohibit the Federal Reserve from issuing any form of digital dollar CBDC by law.
Specific content:
The Federal Reserve is prohibited from providing services directly to individuals: accounts or financial products may not be opened for the public.
The Federal Reserve is prohibited from issuing CBDCs: whether directly or through intermediaries such as commercial banks.
R&D Ban: The Federal Reserve Board may not research, test, develop, create, or implement CBDCs, nor may it use digital currencies in monetary policy.
Congressional Authorization: Confirms that the Federal Reserve has no authority to issue digital currencies without new legislation.
In short, the bill will permanently ban government-led digital dollars. Supporters argue that this will protect financial privacy and American civil liberties.
Becoming one of the few major economies to ban CBDCs
The United States may become one of the few large economies to explicitly ban CBDCs for retail use. This is in stark contrast to regions such as the European Union, which is actively promoting the digital euro plan and the European Central Bank is conducting technical prototypes and legal framework research to plan to run CBDCs in parallel with cash and private digital payments.
Other major economies (China, Japan, the United Kingdom) are also conducting CBDC pilots or consultations. US policy is more inclined to support stablecoins issued by the private sector rather than government digital currencies.
If a retail CBDC is ever launched, it may become a strong competitor to stablecoins because it is government-backed, dollar-denominated, and can be quickly accepted. But banning CBDC will allow USDC, USDT, and future compliant stablecoins to continue to lead the market. Meanwhile, the **GENIUS Act** is also under consideration to develop a tiered regulatory framework for stablecoin issuers, indicating that the United States prefers to regulate and legalize stablecoins rather than replace them with government products.
GENIUS Act: Federal Regulatory Framework for Stablecoins
The Senate-passed GENIUS Act (Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins) is a bipartisan bill to regulate stablecoins. The bill passed the Senate on June 17, 2025 and is now awaiting review by the House of Representatives.
Core content:
100% reserve: Compliant stablecoins must be 100% backed by highly liquid assets (such as US dollars or short-term government bonds) to ensure that users can redeem them in full.
Information disclosure and audit: Issuers must disclose their reserves at least monthly, conduct financial audits and regular third-party verifications every year.
Licensing mechanism: Issuers with a market value of more than US$10 billion must obtain a federal license (federal and state dual-tier licenses), and smaller issuers can choose a qualified state license on the premise of meeting federal standards.
Consumer protection and anti-money laundering: Anti-money laundering/anti-terrorist financing regulations such as the Bank Secrecy Act must be complied with, and "moral guardrails" to prevent market abuse must be adopted, and users have the right to redeem at any time.
Prohibition of algorithmic stablecoins and interest-paying stablecoins: Algorithmic stablecoins without full reserves and payment-type stablecoins that pay interest or dividends to users are explicitly prohibited.
If implemented, the bill will establish the legal status of stablecoins as a safe, dollar-equivalent payment tool, which is expected to increase consumer and institutional confidence. Issuers must maintain transparency and conservative operations, which may promote the wider use of stablecoins in payment, remittance and cryptocurrency entry scenarios.
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