Trump meets senators at White House to break the ethics deadlock on the Digital Asset Market CLARITY Act. The bill’s last hurdle is a conflict-of-interest rule for top officials.

Trump moves to unlock CLARITY Act as ethics fight stalls Senate

The meeting targets one sticking point. Enforcement of ethics rules.

The CLARITY Act would split spot market oversight between the SEC and CFTC. It passed the House in July 2025 and cleared Senate Banking in May 2026 with only two Democratic votes, Ruben Gallego and Angela Alsobrooks, whose support now hinges on tougher ethics language (Coinspeaker).

Talks broke over who enforces conflicts. A tentative deal to let state attorneys general sue the DOJ over ethics failures was pulled by the White House and GOP negotiators. Democrats rejected the fallback that leaves enforcement to the U.S. Attorney General, citing the AG’s direct accountability to Trump (Coinspeaker).

Trump’s crypto income sharpened the fight. He disclosed earning over $1B from crypto ventures in 2025, including World Liberty Financial; some estimates put Trump family crypto-linked earnings at ~$2.3B since his return to office (CoinDesk report on ethics debate and Trump holdings). Senator Chris Van Hollen’s amendment to bar the President, Vice President, and Congress from crypto businesses failed 11–13 (CoinDesk).

• Key swing votes demand enforcement outside the Attorney General
• Prior room included Gallego, Gillibrand, Lummis, Moreno, and WH Crypto Council’s Patrick Witt
• State AGs’ standing to sue DOJ was the tentative compromise

Floor clock is tight. Majority Leader John Thune plans a July vote even without a final ethics deal, with roughly three weeks before the August recess (Coinspeaker). A separate group of Democrats threatened to block the bill but did not include Gallego and Alsobrooks, leaving a bipartisan path if ethics language lands (Coinspeaker).

Timelines are split. Astraea Law sees enactment around August 2026 if ethics are resolved this month (Astraea Law estimate via Solana Compass).

Beyond ethics, market structure hangs. Exchange registration, custody standards, and the SEC/CFTC boundary remain unsettled. Each week of impasse adds uncertainty for exchanges and custodians (CoinDesk).