Trump Crisis in the US’s First Comprehensive Crypto Law: Million-Dollar Gains Halted the Historic Step
The historic Clarity Act, which aims to regulate cryptocurrencies in the U.S. Senate, has come to a standstill before the recess beginning Friday due to Donald Trump’s business interests and ethical debates.
The Clarity Act, which is expected to comprehensively regulate the cryptocurrency sector at the federal level for the first time in the United States, faced a critical political crisis in the Senate. Senate Majority Leader John Thune has not yet initiated the procedural vote required for the bill before the one-month August recess starting Friday. As time runs out for decision-makers in Washington, the future of the bill remains uncertain.
Democratic senators are awaiting resolutions in three main areas for the bill to proceed: ethical rules, combating illicit finance, and disagreements over the text prepared by the Agriculture Committee. In particular, Donald Trump’s launch of his own meme coin project and his family’s close ties to the World Liberty Financial (WLF) platform are at the center of the ethical debates. Financial data shared in June revealed that Trump earned millions of dollars in revenue from this platform.
Trump’s Crypto Investments and Ethics Crisis
Although Senators Gallego and Tillis presented an ethics compromise to the White House, Democrats do not find the proposal sufficient. Trump supports a regulation that prohibits public officials from issuing digital assets but excludes family members and would expire in 2029. In contrast, Democrats demand that the restrictions be permanent for all presidents and that state attorneys general have oversight authority.
The Senate’s upcoming recess starting Friday is pushing the bill’s fate into uncertainty. Some experts predict that the 60 votes required for the Clarity Act to pass will not be reached and that the vote could slide into September. If a compromise cannot be reached between the parties, the U.S.’s first comprehensive crypto law could be overshadowed by the elections in November.