AARP Backs CLARITY Act Ahead of Senate Banking Markup

AARP Backs Section 205 Ahead of CLARITY Act Markup

AARP, the nation’s largest nonprofit, nonpartisan enactment that advocates for 125 cardinal Americans property 50 and older, expressed beardown enactment for provisions successful the CLARITY Act marketplace operation authorities released up of the Senate Banking Committee’s May 14 markup. The radical urged lawmakers to sphere Section 205, which would necessitate cryptocurrency kiosk operators to registry with the Treasury Department arsenic wealth transmitters portion protecting authorities powerfulness to modulate the machines.

In a letter dated May 13 from Bill Sweeney, AARP’s elder vice president of authorities affairs, to Chairman Tim Scott and Ranking Member Elizabeth Warren, the radical described Section 205 arsenic a captious safeguard against cryptocurrency kiosk fraud targeting older Americans. The missive urged lawmakers to sphere some the Treasury registration request and the proviso protecting authorities regulatory authorization arsenic the measure advances done markup and beyond. AARP described cryptocurrency kiosks arsenic 1 of the fastest-growing fraud vectors affecting older Americans. The enactment besides thanked the committee for incorporating the connection into the authorities released earlier the markup.

AARP wrote:

“We constitute to explicit our beardown enactment for provisions successful the marketplace operation authorities released up of the Committee’s markup.”

Cryptocurrency kiosks present run successful supermarkets, convenience stores, gas stations, bars, and restaurants nationwide. Scammers impersonating authorities officials, tech enactment representatives, oregon businesses transportation victims to retreat currency and deposit the wealth into a kiosk. The transferred funds past determination straight into integer wallets controlled by criminals, making betterment astir intolerable aft completion. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) information cited successful the missive showed much than 13,460 complaints involving cryptocurrency kiosks during 2025, with reported losses exceeding $389 million.

State Authority Remains Central to AARP’s Position

AARP highlighted authorities enforcement arsenic a large crushed for preserving Section 205. The radical pointed to 29 states that enacted cryptocurrency kiosk protections, including 12 during 2026. Indiana, Tennessee, and Minnesota adopted afloat bans, portion six further states and Washington, D.C., issued circumstantial regulatory guidance covering the machines.

“We hold with AARP: Congress should support consumers from scams portion giving instrumentality enforcement stronger tools to act,” Blockchain Association stated connected X up of the markup. “Claims that the Clarity Act does not bash capable to code fraud are unfounded,” the radical added, describing AARP arsenic “one of the country’s starring user advocacy organizations” that is “actively supporting provisions successful the measure designed to combat scams and support susceptible Americans.”

Noting that “older Americans cannot spend to spot this proviso weakened arsenic the authorities advances,” AARP stated:

“As the measure moves done markup and beyond, our single, cardinal inquire is straightforward: delight sphere the Section 205 connection arsenic written, including some the wealth transmitter registration request and the regularisation of operation protecting authorities authority.”

The missive gave senators different extracurricular dependable supporting Section 205 earlier ceremonial information during the May 14 markup. AARP’s petition centered specifically connected maintaining the existent Section 205 connection without weakening either the registration mandate oregon the protections for authorities regulatory authority.