President Donald Trump has agreed to include ethics restrictions in a major cryptocurrency market-structure bill, potentially clearing one of the final obstacles preventing the legislation from advancing to a vote in the Senate.
An industry source familiar with the negotiations said Monday evening that an agreement had been reached after lawmakers, administration officials and other participants spent months attempting to resolve disagreements over the ethics language.
The development was first reported by Eleanor Terrett of Crypto in America and Brendan Pedersen of Punchbowl News. Pedersen reported that Senate Democrats had not yet reviewed the newly agreed-upon legislative text, meaning their support for the provision and the wider bill had not been secured.
The ethics proposal was discussed during a July 16 meeting involving Trump, Republican Sens. Bernie Moreno of Ohio and Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, and White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt.
Although the participants did not reach an agreement during that meeting, Trump reportedly approved the provision later Monday. Earlier reports indicated that the private meeting had ended without a clear understanding of what restrictions, if any, the president would support.
The White House and the offices of Moreno and Lummis were contacted for additional comment following reports that Trump had approved the language.
The ethics dispute has been one of the last major barriers facing the Clarity Act, a broad proposal intended to establish the first comprehensive federal regulatory system for the United States digital-asset industry.
The legislation would divide responsibility for cryptocurrency oversight between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, with the CFTC receiving broader authority over many digital assets and trading markets.
Lawmakers and White House officials have spent much of the past year negotiating restrictions designed to prevent presidents, vice presidents, members of Congress and other federal officials from using their positions to profit from digital assets while serving in government.
Those discussions have focused heavily on Trump’s cryptocurrency interests, including his branded memecoins and his family’s involvement with World Liberty Financial.
Financial disclosures released in June showed that Trump received substantial income connected to World Liberty Financial and other cryptocurrency ventures. The disclosure intensified Democratic demands for enforceable ethics safeguards covering elected officials and members of the executive branch.
Before the July 16 White House meeting, Politico reported that some Senate Democrats did not support the version of the ethics provision being presented to Trump. Democratic votes are important because the legislation will likely need bipartisan backing to overcome the Senate’s 60-vote threshold.
The Senate Banking Committee previously advanced its version of the market-structure legislation by a 15-9 vote. Only two Democrats, Sens. Ruben Gallego of Arizona and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland, joined Republicans in supporting the bill at the committee level.
Both senators warned that their committee votes did not guarantee support when the measure reaches the full Senate. They said lawmakers still needed to reach an acceptable ethics agreement and strengthen other portions of the legislation.
Updated legislative text was expected to be released within days of the reported agreement. One person familiar with the process said the text could arrive as early as Monday night, although publication could be delayed.
That source suggested a longer delay could improve the bill’s chances of receiving bipartisan support because negotiators would have more time to develop language acceptable to both parties.
Once the text is released, Senate leaders could bring the Clarity Act before the full chamber. However, lawmakers face a narrow window because the Senate has only until the first week of August to act before its scheduled recess.
Should the Senate approve the legislation, the bill would return to the House of Representatives because the Senate version differs from the measure previously passed by the House. If the House accepts the revised legislation, it could then be sent to Trump for his signature.
Trump’s acceptance of an ethics provision represents progress, but the bill is not guaranteed to pass. Democrats had not reviewed the final language at the time of the report, and lawmakers still need to determine whether the restrictions are strong enough to attract the bipartisan coalition required for Senate approval.
Source: The Block
