Senate Democrats are demanding ethics limits on senior officials' digital asset profits, turning President Donald Trump's personal crypto holdings into the primary obstacle to passing the landmark CLARITY Act.
Atrás
Trump's $1.4B crypto windfall becomes CLARITY Act's biggest hurdle
Senate negotiators on the CLARITY Act face a condition several Democrats consider essential: ethics language restricting how much senior officials, including the president and vice president, can profit from digital asset ventures. President Trump's $1.4 billion crypto windfall has become the single biggest hurdle to passing the market structure bill the industry has pursued for years, according to people familiar with the negotiations.
"The ethics and conflict-of-interest provisions must be strengthened before this bill can move forward," Senator Elizabeth Warren said, identifying the investment exception, affiliated-company structures, and DOJ-only enforcement as specific loopholes that remain unaddressed.
Republicans added ethics restrictions to the July 22 CLARITY draft, but Senate Democrats say the language remains too narrow and weakly enforced. The House passed the Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act 294 to 134 in July 2025, and the Senate Banking Committee advanced the bill in May 2026. Galaxy Digital cut its 2026 passage estimate from 75% in May to roughly 50% as Senate scheduling tightened and the ethics dispute intensified.
The standoff tests whether crypto's 2024 bet on Trump — which delivered rapid executive-branch relief including a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and a crypto-friendly SEC — can also produce the durable statutory settlement only Congress can deliver. In Europe, MiCA is already in force with its transition period ended July 1, putting the US at risk of falling further behind on regulatory clarity.
The 2024 Bet Comes Due
Trump's pitch at Bitcoin 2024 in Nashville included promises to remove SEC Chair Gary Gensler, install crypto-friendly regulators, oppose a central bank digital currency, support domestic Bitcoin mining, and build a government-held Bitcoin stockpile. That bet paid off quickly — Gensler departed, the White House ordered agencies to review crypto rules in January 2025, and Trump created a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve funded with forfeited government Bitcoin.
But Trump's family-backed venture, World Liberty Financial, launched before voters went to the polls, with conflict-of-interest concerns flagged at the time. Charles Hoskinson, founder of Cardano, called Trump's DeFi venture "scary" for the industry, arguing that anything connected to Trump becomes politically charged and could make his own crypto agenda harder to enact.
What Harris's Supporters Argued
Kamala Harris's crypto supporters made a different case. At the Crypto4Harris event in August 2024, Anthony Scaramucci and Mark Cuban pushed the campaign to reset Democratic crypto policy. Scaramucci argued regulation needed to be "positive and bipartisan." The campaign held discussions with Coinbase, Ripple and other firms but stopped short of formal policy commitments.
What's at Stake
Beyond the ethics language, separate fights remain over stablecoin rewards, state enforcement authority, SEC fundraising exemptions, anti-money-laundering rules, and investor protections. Even Democrats who support the bill's broader goals may withhold final votes depending on how negotiations end.
If Senate negotiators land on enforceable ethics language and a stablecoin rewards compromise, CLARITY could pass — handing Trump both halves of the 2024 bet. If the ethics dispute or Senate scheduling stalls the bill before a final vote, crypto would have won rapid executive relief but still lack the statutory certainty other jurisdictions already have.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
Características
© 2026 Edgen impulsado por