TLDR
- President Trump has agreed to an ethics provision in the CLARITY Act after months of negotiations
- The ethics clause aims to limit how federal officials, including the president, can profit from digital assets while in office
- Democrats added stronger customer protection rules to the bill during Senate negotiations
- The Senate has until early August to vote; if passed, the bill returns to the House before reaching Trump’s desk
- Coinbase vice chair Ryan VanGrack praised the customer protections added by Democrats
Trump has agreed to an ethics provision in the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, bringing the most comprehensive crypto legislation in US history closer to a Senate vote.
Trump Agrees to Ethics Provision, Clearing Key Hurdle for CLARITY Act
According to The Block, US President Donald Trump has agreed to an ethics provision in the CLARITY Act, removing the final major hurdle to advancing the crypto market structure bill toward a Senate vote. The… pic.twitter.com/hINSZbLFCf
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) July 21, 2026
An industry source told The Block on Monday evening that an agreement had been reached on the ethics provision after months of back-and-forth between the White House and Democratic lawmakers.
The provision would limit how presidents, vice presidents, members of Congress, and other federal officials can profit from digital assets while in office.
At the center of the dispute has been Trump’s memecoins and his family’s company, World Liberty Financial. Financial disclosures released last month showed Trump received millions of dollars tied to those ventures, which intensified debate over the ethics rules.
The ethics issue had been the final major hurdle blocking the bill from moving forward. The agreement came after a July 16 meeting between Trump, Republican Senators Bernie Moreno and Cynthia Lummis, and White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt.
What the CLARITY Act Would Do
The bill would regulate the digital asset industry for the first time at the federal level. It would give jurisdiction over crypto markets to both the Securities and Exchange Commission and, more broadly, to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Bill text is expected to be released in the coming days. The Senate must vote on the bill before the first week of August. If it passes the Senate, it goes back to the House before reaching Trump’s desk.
Democrats Push for Stronger Protections
Coinbase vice chair Ryan VanGrack said on CNBC Monday that Democratic lawmakers used negotiations to add stronger customer protections to the bill.
“At the end of the day, this is about customer protections,” VanGrack said. “The Democrats used this opportunity, wisely, to make sure that customers were first and foremost in this bill.”
Senate Democrats held a closed-door meeting last Wednesday to assess their positions. As of Monday, the final bill text had not been released and no floor vote had been scheduled.
Trump last week called on senators to pass the CLARITY Act following the death of Senator Lindsey Graham, claiming Graham had been a supporter of the bill.
White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt had planned to leave his post this week for National Guard training, but announced Monday that his training had been postponed. His deputy, Harry Jung, said he would be leaving the role in two weeks.
The longer the wait to release the bill text, one source said, the better the chances of it passing with bipartisan support.
