April appears to be a lost cause for the crypto Clarity Act, but a U.S. Senate committee hearing sometime in May could keep the critical market structure legislation alive, as long as it can reach a final vote of the overall Senate by July, according to lobbyists and a lawmaker aide focusing on the market structure bill's sluggish progress. The legislative calendar is running out of room for this year, but a Senate aide told CoinDesk that a potential new delay of a couple of weeks — allowing Republican Senator Thom Tillis to finish discussions with bankers over stablecoin-yield concerns — is not yet pushing this work past the point of no return. The aide also said that earlier negotiations over decentralized finance (DeFi) protections are effectively settled, leaving few other impediments in the way of a committee approval. One of the chief problems the crypto industry faces (if it can leap the stubborn hurdle of the banking sector's objections about stablecoin rewards) is that the Senate Banking Committee hearing that the bill needs to clear would be only a first step of many. Here's the scheduling maelstrom the effort is now circling: The Senate will essentially flee Washington in August and be in election mode until the November congressional midterms arrive. It's currently scheduled for about a dozen weeks of DC work before the elections, and it has some pressing matters on its plate during that time, including the funding battle over the Department of Homeland Security, clashes over the Iran war, the debate on voter identification and addressing nominations such as President Donald Trump's pick to run the Federal Reserve, Kevin Warsh. If the bill manages to finally get signoff from the Senate Banking Committee, the text needs to be merged with the version that passed the Senate Agriculture Committee. That merger work is the timing cushion that these current delays are eating into, the aide said. The final legislation would likely be revised further as lawm