White House crypto adviser: Trump makes "historic" ethics compromise for CLARITY Act, Republicans have met about 95% of Democratic demands

BlockBeats news, September 15: White House crypto affairs adviser Patrick Witt said that White House officials met with Trump last Friday to explain the government ethics provisions in the latest version of the CLARITY Act, after which Trump agreed to make further concessions. The related restrictions may require Trump to transfer his crypto asset investments into a blind trust and give states certain authority to hold officials accountable. Witt said this would be the "strongest" arrangement in federal ethics law and a "historic, unprecedented" one, while Trump was told that the relevant provisions cannot be used to launch political attacks against him.

Senate Republicans released a new version of the bill text on Sunday night, continuing to make concessions to Democrats on issues including government ethics and criminal liability for DeFi projects. Witt said Republicans have accepted about 95% of the demands from Democratic negotiators; if lawmakers still oppose the bill at this point, their decision may be based more on political considerations than policy differences.

However, staff on the Democratic-led Senate Banking Committee believe the new text still gives officials appointed by Trump, especially the U.S. Attorney General, too much authority and could prevent the ethics provisions from being enforced. Under the current design, state attorneys general cannot directly hold officials such as the president, vice president, members of Congress, and federal judges accountable for violations, but they can take action against crypto trading platforms that list improper assets and against the U.S. Attorney General. In addition, attorneys general from multiple states, banking groups, and some in the crypto industry have separately raised objections to enforcement authority, stablecoin yields, and DeFi provisions.

The Senate will first hold a procedural vote, and the bill needs at least 60 votes to advance to subsequent consideration. Even if it reaches that threshold, it will still need to go through amendment discussions and other votes; if it is ultimately approved by the Senate, it must still be sent back to the House for handling. Witt said that even if the bill fails to pass, the SEC and CFTC will continue to advance crypto regulatory rulemaking.