'Hugely positive' meeting on Thursday with Trump to discuss ethics raises hopes for passage of sweeping crypto legislation

Ethics will be front and center Thursday afternoon at a meeting with President Donald Trump, a small group of lawmakers and White House staff as lawmakers seek to resolve one of the biggest obstacles to passing landmark cryptocurrency legislation.

That meeting will be held at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday with Republican Sens. Bernie Moreno and Cynthia Lummis, along with top White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, said Solana Policy Institute President Kristin Smith. This comes as lawmakers have been negotiating ethics language to address lawmakers' concerns about Trump and his family's crypto ventures.

"The purpose is to pitch him some ideas on the ethics issue and hopefully get his sign-off on those," Smith said in an interview with The Block. "So I think that's hugely positive."

Smith called the meeting "critical" to getting the bill, called the Clarity Act, passed. The focus is to get Trump's sign-off on ethics, she added.

CoinDesk first reported news of the meeting. Lummis, Moreno, and the White House did not respond to a request for comments on details about the meeting. 

A crypto industry source said movement on the Clarity Act hinges on Thursday's meeting.

"The fact Trump himself is attending is a big deal, in my opinion," the source said. "Shows he's intent on getting a deal done."

The Senate is working quickly to push a sweeping cryptocurrency bill through its chamber in the next few weeks that would regulate digital assets for the first time comprehensively at the federal level. According to multiple news reports, Senate Majority Leader John Thune has said he wants to send the bill to a full Senate vote before the August recess. Updated legislative text is still expected to be released before the end of the week.

One of the biggest hurdles in passing the bill has been whether to include an ethics provision. Negotiators from both parties have spent months discussing ethics provisions that would limit how presidents, vice presidents, members of Congress and other federal officials can profit from digital assets while in office.

Last month, Trump's financial disclosure revealed hundreds of millions of dollars in crypto-related income tied to his family's company, World Liberty Financial, adding fuel to ethics negotiations.

Democrats from Sen. Elizabeth Warren to Chris Murphy have argued that an ethics provision is essential. During a vote in the Senate Banking Committee for the bill, Sens. Ruben Gallego and Angela Alsobrooks voted in favor of the legislation, but said issues around ethics had to be resolved before it goes to the full Senate.

On Tuesday at Maryland Blockchain Week, Alsobrooks said there are concerns around ethics, adding that she is hopeful that progress can be made in the next few weeks, but said the ball is in Republicans' court.

"But I think everybody should be clear that my Republican colleagues are going to have to lean in and make sure that these issues are addressed," she said.

Later on Tuesday, Democratic Sens. Chris Van Hollen, Chris Murphy and Jeff Merkley held a press conference opposing the Clarity Act, and participants held up signs that said "Stop Trump's Crypto Corruption."

During the event, Van Hollen said Democrats should not allow any crypto bill to advance in the Senate without addressing ethics concerns. "Let's hope it never sees the light of day," he said.

Republicans, meanwhile, signaled they remain engaged in negotiations over ethics provisions. Sen. Cynthia Lummis told Fox Business that lawmakers have been working on the issue but pushed back on a potential proposal that would allow state attorneys general to sue an elected official. She said the use of "blind trusts," however, remains under consideration.

"When we finally come to the language that both the Congress can live with and the White House can live with, I think it's going to be a decent balance and something fair," she said Tuesday.

Solana Policy Institute's Smith voiced optimism on Wednesday afternoon and said she is eager to see how Thursday's meeting goes.

"This could totally get done and I say this as somebody who thought for a very long time that there's no way this is getting done," Smith said. "So I think I'm probably a little more optimistic than others right now."