Key Takeaways:
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand said she had "no involvement" in her son's derivatives exchange after Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen became one of several backers of the venture, a disclosure that lands as the New York Democrat negotiates ethics provisions in a crypto market structure bill headed for a Senate floor vote as soon as this month.
"The senator has no involvement in her son's business activities," a Gillibrand spokesperson said, according to a person familiar with the matter. The venture, a derivatives exchange launched by Gillibrand's son, counts Larsen among dozens of investors who have backed the startup, the report said.
The investment comes at a sensitive moment for Senate negotiations on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, H.R. 3633, known as the CLARITY Act. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott, Republican of South Carolina, said this week he is seeking a floor vote this month. The House passed its version of the market structure bill in July 2025 by a 294-134 margin, and the Senate Banking Committee advanced the bill 15-9 on May 14, with two Democrats — Sens. Ruben Gallego of Arizona and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland — crossing party lines.
Both Gallego and Alsobrooks said their markup votes did not guarantee floor support unless further changes were made, with an ethics provision emerging as a key sticking point. Alsobrooks said Trump and his family "are the most corrupt we've ever seen in the White House," citing "planes, pardons, falsifying business records, and now crypto." Gallego wrote on X that "Trump is using the presidency to profit off the American people" and fumed last month that the White House backed away from a potential ethics agreement.
The ethics debate intensified after President Donald Trump's annual financial disclosure showed he made more than $1.4 billion from his family's crypto ventures in 2025, representing more than half of his $2.2 billion total income. That total included $635 million in royalties from "Celebration Coins" tied to his memecoin business, $527 million in proceeds from token sales distributed by World Liberty Financial, and about $263 million related to stakes in holding companies that own WLF and its stablecoin business.
Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, said the crypto legislation "must prevent the president, vice president, senior administration officials, members of Congress, and their families from profiting off the crypto industry." Warren has been one of the leading opponents of the market structure bill.
Senator Cynthia Lummis, Republican of Wyoming, who is shepherding the bill and has said she will not seek reelection in 2026, announced on June 25 that Senate negotiators will release compromise text over the July 4 holiday weekend, with a floor vote push to follow in July. Lummis said on Fox Business that the revised language allows stablecoin issuers to operate rewards programs but prohibits benefits tied directly to account balances in a manner that replicates traditional bank interest — a compromise designed to address bank lobbying without foreclosing all yield-adjacent product design.
The tight legislative calendar makes the July window close to mandatory. Lawmakers are on state work periods for the Independence Day holiday, scheduled to return July 13, and leave for another month-long state work period in August. With the clock running toward the November election, any delay risks pushing the bill into a post-election lame-duck session, where the political calculus shifts unpredictably.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
