Trump’s crypto riches loom over Clarity Act talks to ban conflicts for U.S. officials

The ethics provision is among the final sections of the Clarity Act that need to be ironed out if the bill is to advance to a Senate floor vote. The clock is running out on getting the legislation approved, and industry insiders are anxiously awaiting the latest draft of Clarity, which they expect in the next couple of days. But it isn’t expected to have completed language on this section and a couple of other points also still being debated.

Earlier, bipartisan discussions had covered the possibilities of extending ethics implementation to a later period that might not impose immediate disruptions on Trump’s extended crypto-related holdings, and that the limits would be on the government officials and not beyond them. But people briefed on the negotiations have said that they’d hit a recent wall, despite the dwindling available calendar for action in the Senate before the summer recess and the shift in focus to the midterm elections.

The Senate is back to work this week and has just a few weeks remaining before its major break. Senate Majority Leader John Thune had suggested that he’d press forward with a Clarity vote this month, whatever shape the bill is in. The talks now have the element of Trump’s recent financial disclosures to contend with, in which he pocketed massive profits from sales of crypto assets and related income streams from the sector.

On Monday, several Senate Democrats announced that they’d hold a press conference this week to state their opposition to Clarity and what they said is its “failure to rein in President Donald Trump’s corrupt crypto schemes.” Senator Murphy will join senators Chris Van Hollen and Jeff Merkley at that event on Capitol Hill, which will also highlight their claims that the crypto sector’s Washington influence is causing “growing political corruption.”

One of the lawmakers involved in the ethics discussions, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, recently noted that Trump’s largest single 2025 income stream, $636 million, came from issuing the memecoin that bore his name. She said that she and fellow Democrats have been pushing to make it illegal for presidents to issue or sponsor any digital assets.

“We cannot let self-dealing destroy an opportunity to strengthen consumer protections, crack down on illicit finance and expand economic opportunity for the millions of Americans our financial system has left behind,” Gillibrand said in a statement. “The time to act is now — and that must include ethics reforms that prohibit members of Congress, the president and their spouses from cashing in on their office.”

Though Clarity would need many Democrats to join with Republicans if advocates want to hit the necessary 60-vote threshold for Senate passage, Gillibrand and other Democrats have said that the bill can’t pass until this is addressed.

It’s still unclear what Trump will be willing to do to make Clarity happen. But he did suggest on Monday that it remains a personal priority.

After news emerged that his staunch Senate ally Lindsey Graham had died suddenly, Trump said in a post on his social media site on Monday that Clarity should be passed in his honor, though the lawmaker wasn’t involved in the negotiations. Senator Cynthia Lummis, the Republican crypto advocate who leads the Senate Banking Committee’s digital assets subcommittee, added her agreement.

Trump’s latest endorsement of Clarity belies his other recent legislative stance in which he refused to sign the bipartisan housing affordability bill, saying he wouldn’t sign any bills until lawmakers advance his priority: legislation that demands more robust voter identification and proof of citizenship. His calls for the Clarity Act’s passage may suggest he’s willing to make an exception for crypto.

White House crypto advisor Patrick Witt posted on social media site X on Monday, calling this a “critical week” for the Clarity Act, and noting that it falls on the one-year anniversary of the industry’s first major policy bill that regulated stablecoin issuers. He called that timing a “reminder of the incredible amount of hard work that has gone into this bill, but also of the time we’ve already lost.”

Read More: Newest version of crypto Clarity Act may drop as soon as next week, sources say