cryptobill

#TRUMP $TRUMP #CryptoBill #CLARITYAct
Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D., Md.) heard about crypto from her 21-year-old daughter. It also came up from voters on the campaign trail. The freshman senator got curious and eventually became one of the Democratic champions of a landmark crypto bill winding through Washington—until now.
Her hang-up? President Trump’s $1.4 billion windfall from meme coins and crypto deals.
Despite her role helping negotiate the Clarity Act, Alsobrooks is among the Democrats who plan to vote against it unless it contains language that limits public officials, including the president, from profiting off digital tokens.
“I am not going to support a bill in its current form unless ethics is addressed,” Alsobrooks told The Wall Street Journal. “The president’s corruption is shocking.”
A White House spokeswoman has said all actions by Trump and his administration are taken in the best interest of the American people.
Alsobrooks says her support of crypto is about embracing innovation and economic opportunity. While her position puts her at risk of being seen by voters as pro-Trump, Alsobrooks said it was better to be involved.
“The worst thing [Democrats] can do, from a political standpoint, is to be… immobile and to not do anything,” she said.
The Clarity Act, which would establish bespoke rules for the industry, appeared destined for passage last year, thanks to bipartisan support—including from senators such as Alsobrooks—and aggressive advocacy by the crypto business. But it since has been derailed by one setback after another, including a battle between banks and crypto firms.
Now, with November’s midterm elections approaching, Democrats see Trump’s crypto profits as a vulnerability for Republicans and appear ready to use the legislation to drive home their message.
$TRUMP disclosed the extent of his crypto profits in May, Republicans last month unveiled a proposal that would have prohibited certain government officials from issuing or sponsoring new digital assets. But it didn’t address established holdings, such as the Trump family’s investments. It would have only been enforceable by the Justice Department, and the requirements would have expired as soon as Trump left office.
Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona, another Democratic negotiator on the bill, called the proposal “not a serious effort.” Democrats want to eliminate any sunset provision and extend enforceability to states or others. They also want to require Trump to divest from his crypto assets or put them in a blind trust.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R., N.C.) said Friday that stronger ethics language had been sent to the White House. The White House has yet to respond to the proposal.
Passing the bill is now a race against the clock: The Senate is scheduled to depart for a lengthy recess on Aug. 8, meaning a final vote will likely be pushed to September at the earliest. And passing the bill during that month could prove tricky because Republicans will have limited time to work through other priorities—including a spending measure to keep the government open past Sept. 30—before rushing back home to campaign.
The bill is even less likely to pass during lame-duck session between the midterm elections and the start of the new congressional term—at least not if Democrats take control of the House or Senate, increasing their leverage over the bill.
The cryptocurrency industry is nevertheless undertaking an all-out push to line up votes to get the measure passed. Many in the industry see the Clarity Act as a way to accelerate adoption by everyday users. While Wall Street firms have already struck partnerships with crypto companies and rolled out crypto-related products, they say clearer rules are needed for them to fully embrace the industry.
But several other fights remain to be to resolved, even if Democrats and the White House strike a compromise on ethics requirements. Republicans and Democrats alike have said they want stronger language to protect against the illicit use of crypto by criminals. A growing number of Republicans have also expressed concerns that letting stablecoin issuers pay interest to customers could prompt a deposit flight from banks.
Alsobrooks says she wasn’t taken seriously when she raised concerns early on about the impact that yield-paying stablecoins could have on banks and the economy. Lobbying from the banking industry eventually forced Republicans to scrap plans for a markup vote on an earlier version of the Clarity Act in January.
A series of meetings followed between crypto- and banking-industry representatives at the White House to hash out the matter. Alsobrooks and Tillis eventually worked out a deal they felt was good for both sides, but the banking trade groups want more changes.
Alsobrooks is hopeful a bill can still get done. She was one of two Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee who voted in May to move the bill to the full Senate.
“It was about keeping the conversation going,” she said. “I wasn’t ready to give up on it.”