Cody Carbone, CEO of the crypto advocacy group The Digital Chamber, testified Wednesday before the Senate Banking Committee, urging lawmakers to pass the CLARITY Act. He argued that the market-structure bill would slash financial costs that hit lower-income households hardest.
The cost argument
Carbone told the committee that without clear rules, the cost of navigating the crypto market falls disproportionately on families with less money to spare. He framed the bill as a way to reduce those expenses — not just for big traders, but for everyday Americans trying to buy, sell, or hold digital assets. The testimony leaned heavily on the idea that regulatory clarity would lower compliance costs, which in turn would cut fees and spreads that eat into small investors' returns.
What the CLARITY Act does
The CLARITY Act is a crypto market-structure bill designed to settle the long-running debate over which digital assets count as securities and which are commodities. By giving exchanges and issuers a clear legal framework, the legislation aims to reduce the legal and operational drag that currently gets passed along to users. The bill has been a priority for The Digital Chamber, which sees it as the most direct path to reducing barriers for retail participation.
Next steps on the Hill
The Senate Banking Committee took the testimony as part of its ongoing review of crypto legislation. No vote has been scheduled yet, and the bill still needs to clear the committee before heading to the full Senate. Carbone's appearance is one of several recent hearings on market structure, but the timeline for action remains open. The committee has not announced when it will take up the CLARITY Act for markup or a floor vote.
