Kennedy’s Crypto Gambit: One Vote Turns the Senate Into a Blockchain Circus

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Senator John Kennedy, the reluctant puppet master, is poised to seal the fate of the Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act with a single affirmative, ensuring that the bill’s tide rises regardless of the bipartisan storm that could otherwise freeze its progress.

The Louisiana Republican is rumored to have brokered a curious pact with Chairman Tim Scott: a fiduciary duty clause for crypto clerks and the improbable attachment of Senator Elizabeth Warren’s Build Now Act to the same legislative basket.

A Bipartisan Tangle That Snarks the Committee’s Numbers

The Senate Banking panel sits 13 Republicans to 11 Democrats. Every GOP card was a lifeline, and Kennedy had been the lone waver in this balancing act until Thursday’s crack‑up.

Chairman Scott dropped the 309‑page petri dish of a bill on Tuesday after months of tussle over stablecoin yields. The House had already swallowed it with a 294 to 134 nod in July 2025, but the Senate pageant stalled over the harder questions.

White House crypto czar David Sacks cast the markup as a triumph for U.S. global standing, gratis to the Senate staff for the compromises that birthed the current text-some might argue that “compromises” is a euphemism for sacrifice.

“Tomorrow’s markup of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act is a monumental step in making the U.S. the Crypto Capital of the World and maintaining America’s leadership in innovation. I applaud Chairman @SenatorTimScott and the Senate Banking Committee for working so hard to craft… ”

– David Sacks (@DavidSacks) May 13, 2026

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Amendments and DeFi Pushback Loom

Members of the Banking panel have filed a veritable avalanche of over 100 amendments by Wednesday’s deadline. Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto, Andy Kim, Chris Van Hollen, Warren, and Jack Reed wield proposals that the DeFi Education Fund lashes out as anti‑DeFi.

These amendments target the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act, protections for non‑controlling software sorcerers, DeFi front‑end interfaces, and tokenization clauses.

Kennedy said he’ll listen to Democratic amendments but insinuated that the ethics provision is unlikely to make it through the committee’s labyrinth.

News: Sen. Kennedy tells Semafor he will vote for the crypto market structure bill tomorrow in Banking Committee, meaning it will get out of committee regardless of what Dems do. More TK

– He says he has a deal with Chairman Scott on “creating fiduciary duty for people within…”

– Burgess Everett (@burgessev) May 13, 2026

Polymarket traders now price the bill’s 2026 passage odds at 73 %, and recent polling shows a majority of voters back this framework. A successful committee vote clears the way for the Senate floor before the Memorial Day recess.

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2026-05-13 19:20