Senator Elizabeth Warren has filed 40 amendments to the CLARITY Act aimed at keeping XRP out of the U.S. banking system, according to draft language obtained this week. The proposals would restrict the Federal Reserve's ability to grant master accounts to crypto firms — including Ripple, Circle, Anchorage, and Custodia Bank — effectively walling off the industry from traditional finance infrastructure.
Warren's master-account crackdown
One of the amendments specifically targets Fed master accounts, the gateway for crypto firms to access the central bank's payment system. Kraken already holds such an account, and Ripple has OCC approval to operate as a bank. Under Warren's proposal, the Fed would face new limits on approving similar access for digital-asset companies. The move follows a broader push by the senator to isolate crypto from the banking system.
Reed's legal-tender ban
Separately, Senator Jack Reed introduced an amendment that would prohibit using crypto as legal tender, including for paying taxes. While no U.S. state currently recognizes crypto as legal tender — El Salvador's bitcoin law is the closest international parallel — the amendment signals growing unease on the Banking Committee about the concept gaining traction.
DeFi under fire
More than 100 amendments were submitted by committee members in total, with a notable cluster targeting decentralized finance. The DeFi Education Fund said it's tracking what it calls 'anti-DeFi amendments' that could harm users, developers, and the technology itself. Democratic senators Cortez Masto, Andy Kim, Chris Van Hollen, Warren, and Reed are behind those proposals.
The fund didn't specify which amendments it's most worried about, but the list includes restrictions on smart-contract developers and new reporting requirements for DeFi protocols.
The Senate Banking Committee is scheduled to mark up the CLARITY Act on Thursday. At press time, XRP was trading at $1.41, down 1.4% over 24 hours; Bitcoin slid to $78,000. The vote will show which of the 100-plus amendments survive and which get dropped — and just how far the committee is willing to go to rein in crypto.
