TLDR
- Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper calls the CLARITY Act a national security bill in a new op-ed.
- The Senate will hold a cloture vote on H.R. 3633 on September 15.
- Passing the bill requires 60 votes, and Republicans need Democratic support to get there.
- Galaxy Research puts the odds of passage in 2026 at only 10 percent.
- Unresolved issues include ethics rules, bank lobbying, and illicit finance provisions.
Former Defense Secretary Mark Esper says the CLARITY Act is a national security bill. He made the claim in a Financial Times op-ed this week.
Esper argues that China and sanctioned networks gain ground every day the United States delays clear crypto rules.
His comments come as the Senate prepares for a key vote on the bill, known as H.R. 3633.
The Senate is set to hold a cloture vote on September 15. That vote will show whether the bill has enough support to move forward.
Who Is Mark Esper and Why Does He Care?
Esper served as U.S. Secretary of Defense from 2019 to 2020. He now sits on Coinbase’s Global Advisory Council.
His op-ed is his strongest public statement yet on U.S. crypto policy.
Esper says U.S. economic power depends on the dollar and the payment systems built around it.
If crypto activity moves offshore to places with looser rules, he says Washington loses the ability to track it. Sanctions become harder to enforce.
He warns that rivals like China could then set the rules for global finance instead of the United States.
Esper shared the op-ed on the social platform X. Several crypto news outlets have since covered his comments.
The Path of the CLARITY Act So Far
The House passed the CLARITY Act in July 2025 by a vote of 294 to 134.
The Senate Banking Committee advanced the bill in May 2026. The vote was 15 to 9, with two Democrats joining Republicans.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune filed a cloture motion on August 8. That filing set up the September 15 vote.
Passing cloture requires 60 votes. Republicans cannot reach that number without Democratic support.
Several issues remain unresolved. These include rules on officials’ crypto holdings, bank concerns over stablecoin yields, and gaps in rules meant to stop illicit finance.
Research firm Galaxy Research recently lowered its odds for the bill passing in 2026 to just 10 percent.
The firm pointed to Senate delays and lobbying from banks as the main reasons for the lower forecast.
Without a win on September 15, the industry could face a mix of different rules from different agencies until at least 2027.
Before the Senate recess, the White House held a meeting between the president and the heads of the SEC and CFTC to discuss crypto rules.
The White House has said it remains focused on getting the bill passed in September.
If the bill does not pass, regulators could still act on their own. CFTC Chair Michael Selig has said his agency will move ahead with crypto rules whether or not CLARITY passes.
Rules made by agencies can be reversed more easily than laws passed by Congress, especially after elections change who controls those agencies.
Uncertainty around the bill has already affected crypto companies. Circle, the company behind a widely used stablecoin, has seen its shares affected by the ongoing delay.
The September 15 vote is now one of the most watched dates in crypto policy this year.
