Clarity Act Mired In Debate Over Whether to Bar President From Selling Crypto

A sweeping cryptocurrency bill is approaching a final vote in the Senate this summer, with support from Republicans and some Democrats — and backed by an industry that has spent tens of millions of dollars to shape it.

But lately a major sticking point has emerged: the $1.4 billion in crypto revenue that President Trump disclosed in June, after a year of astonishing moneymaking by his family’s network of crypto businesses.

Now as the landmark legislation, known as the Clarity Act, inches toward passage, Senate Democrats are pushing for strict language in the bill that would bar public officials from selling digital currencies. On Wednesday, Republican senators released a new draft of the bill that contained a version of those restrictions, including language making it illegal for the president and other U.S. officials to issue or sponsor a cryptocurrency.

Democrats and progressive advocacy groups immediately fired back, arguing that the draft did not go far enough to stop Mr. Trump from using crypto to enrich himself. With the midterm elections approaching, the debate is threatening to engulf the Clarity Act, showing how Mr. Trump’s crypto dealings have rippled through Washington.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/22/technology/crypto-bill-trump.html