Trump Pushes CLARITY Act as $1.4B Crypto Ties Spark Major U.S. Regulatory Battle

Key Takeaways:

• Trump called on Congress to approve the CLARITY Act and enact tighter crypto guidelines.
• The legislation has languished in the Senate due to differences around political conflicts of interest.
• Clear legislation would give the U.S. market a long-term sense of peace, crypto executives say.

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President Donald Trump is urging Congress to pull together the regulatory clarity needed to spur the U.S. crypto market-structure debate back to the center by bringing a staid bill home that’s languished for a while. The push followed the gathering of crypto executives and top regulators at the White House.

Trump urged lawmakers to pass what he called a “fair version” of the CLARITY Act, arguing that clearer rules would strengthen the U.S. crypto industry and help the country maintain its position in digital assets.

The legislation aims to establish a guidance for the classification of the various crypto assets subject to securities or commodities law and which of the federal agencies is responsible for regulation.

The time distinction may make the difference for crypto companies on how exchanges, token issuers and other businesses will function in the U.S.

Its passage in the Senate has been hindered while it has already passed the House. The rest of the congressional calendar isn’t the pretty crackerjack either.

Crypto executives appearing with Trump included Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, Vlad Tenev, the CEO of Robinhood and Arjun Sethi, the co-CEO of Kraken. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins and CFTC Chairman Mike Selig also were at the White House event.

Read More: 67 Million Americans Hold Crypto as Ripple Executive Pushes for CLARITY Act Rules

Legislation would offer more lasting protection than the changes to rules by federal agencies, the industry says.

With the SEC and CFTC steadily advancing their own cryptocurrency efforts, meanwhile, Congress hasn’t gotten its act together yet, that worry has gained some traction. The SEC has put forward regulations that make it easier for some crypto businesses to sell tokens and raise funds, Reuters reported.

Future administrations could change regulatory policies and significant regulation might be challenged in court without a federal market-structure law.

Trump’s crypto agenda faces another obstacle: his family’s financial interests in the sector.

According to Reuters, Trump has raked in over $1.4 billion through the crypto activities of his family’s businesses and his stake in World Liberty Financial and the Trump meme coin. Trump has stated that he doesn’t run the family businesses on a daily basis and investments are separately managed.

Democrats, as well as some Republicans, have pushed for more stringent limitations on political official profiteering from cryptocurrency operations before approving the bill.

That fight is one of the largest obstacles to a Senate compromise. The risks are especially great for the crypto industry: without CLARITY, crypto firms could continue to heavily emulate the SEC and CFTC’s approach to rules instead of Congress.

Read More: CLARITY Act Nears Senate Vote as Solana Pushes Critical Crypto Developer Protections

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