Trump Backs Ethics Curbs, Clearing the CLARITY Act's Last Hurdle
Trump has approved the ethics provisions Democrats demanded, removing the final obstacle to the CLARITY Act as the Senate races an early-August deadline.
President Trump has signed off on the ethics provisions Democrats demanded for the CLARITY Act, clearing what negotiators called the last obstacle to the biggest US crypto market-structure bill. The Block reported the approval, citing sources. The White House has not confirmed it, but the amendment text is already circulating among some Republican senators.
The August deadline
The timing is everything now. The House passed CLARITY in the summer of 2025, and the bill has since cleared the Senate Agriculture and Banking committees. Final passage needs 60 votes, which is why Democratic support was never optional. The Senate has until the first week of August before it breaks for recess. Miss that window and the vote slips to November, after the midterms. If it clears the Senate, the bill returns to the House and then to Trump's desk. The administration wanted it signed by July 4. That date came and went.
The $1.4 billion problem
Trump's own holdings are the reason the ethics clause exists. His 2025 financial disclosure listed at least $1.4 billion in crypto earnings, his single largest source of income. The fight centered on his meme coins and World Liberty Financial, the family crypto venture. The provisions would bar the president, the vice president, members of Congress, and other senior officials from profiting off crypto businesses while in office.
Democrats said flatly they would not move without that language. On July 14, three Democratic senators, among them Chris Murphy and Jeff Merkley, came out against the current draft. Senator Elizabeth Warren went further, pressing Trump to voluntarily disclose his crypto earnings from January 1 to July 15 this year rather than wait for the mandatory 2026 filing. The White House says there is no conflict because his assets sit in a trust run by his children.
The July 16 meeting
The turn came after Trump sat down with four Republican senators, among them Cynthia Lummis and Bernie Moreno, plus crypto adviser Patrick Witt and chief of staff Susie Wiles. No Democrats were invited. Early reports said it ended without a deal, with Trump wary the ethics language could box him in. The Block's later account flipped that, putting his approval on the record for the first time. The amended text is expected within days. After that, the Senate's clock runs to the first week of August, and not a day longer.
Sources
- Trump Agrees to Ethics Amendments for CLARITY Act — Major US Crypto Bill Could Pass This Summer · The Block
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