Trump Bends to Ethics Demands for Crypto Bill

President Donald Trump has agreed to new ethics rules as part of a crypto bill being written in the Senate. The bill aims to bring the $2.3 trillion digital assets industry into the mainstream, but its fate hangs on whether Trump's concessions go far enough.

The president had been hearing warnings from senators that he would have to agree to conflict-of-interest restrictions to get key Democrats on board with the bill. Lummis and Moreno went to the White House for a meeting in mid-July and told Trump that he would have to abide by conflict-of-interest restrictions, including bar all federally elected officials and their spouses from issuing digital assets.

However, Sen. Ruben Gallego and Sen. Thom Tillis then presented an additional proposal that went further. It would require the president to put his crypto holdings in a blind trust, and divest when those holdings reach a certain value. This provision could force Trump to divest from ventures such as World Liberty Financial.

The bill's lead author, Sen. Cynthia Lummis, said that a vote against the Clarity Act isn't a principled stand against President Trump but rather a vote against implementing tough restrictions on politicians for crypto investments.