Trump's crypto ethics stance leaves Clarity Act negotiations in limbo

A meeting last week among President Donald Trump, White House officials, and two Republican senators to discuss what may be the final obstacle to passing cryptocurrency legislation — an ethics provision to address Trump's vast crypto wealth — has become something of a black box.

On the afternoon of July 16, Trump, Republican Sens. Bernie Moreno and Cynthia Lummis, along with top White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt, met to discuss one of the final issues in passing that crypto bill, the Clarity Act. The bill would comprehensively regulate the industry for the first time at the federal level.

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. At the center of the issue has been Trump's memecoins and his family's company, World Liberty Financial. Last month, financial disclosures from Trump showed hundreds of millions of dollars related to WLF, intensifying the debate over potential ethics safeguards.

On Monday morning, one industry source indicated that Trump did not sign off on ethics language during Thursday's meeting.

The meeting ended with "no agreement on what, if any, provisions Trump can get behind," an industry source told The Block, citing someone who was in the meeting itself.

"There's concerns on if any of these provisions could potentially harm him in the future," the industry source said.

A separate source familiar also said, though it's not concrete, that they had heard as well that nothing was agreed to.

"There's rumors that they went into the Oval Office and they couldn't get him to agree to anything," the source familiar said.

A spokesperson for Lummis declined to comment on what happened during Thursday's meeting.

"Senator Lummis places great value on the confidentiality of her conversations with the President," the spokesperson told The Block on Friday. "She looks forward to continuing her work with President Trump to cement our nation’s legacy as the crypto capital of the world."

Moreno's team declined to comment on Friday. The White House did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

Close to the chest

A crypto industry source emphasized how little information had emerged about the meeting.

"The White House and key negotiators on this ethics compromise have kept an incredibly close hold on this meeting and what was discussed," the crypto industry source said on Monday. "The tight circle also reflects the seriousness of the negotiations, and there is real hope that the parties are working toward a compromise that can clear the remaining hurdles and move Clarity forward."

A Senate Democratic aide said as of Friday that they hadn't heard anything on how the meeting went.

Ahead of Thursday's meeting, Politico reported that the current bill text lacks Democratic support.

"They’re taking a version of the text to the president with their ethics provisions, not with anything that we agree to as Democrats," Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., told Politico. "At the end of the day, we don’t have strong ethics. I don’t care what the president says. You’re not going to have the Democratic votes."

A separate source familiar with the meeting said on Friday that from their understanding, the meeting went well and that ethics talks progressed.

Getting to the finish line

Ahead of the meeting, Trump said the Senate should pass the bill in tribute to Sen. Lindsey Graham, who died unexpectedly last weekend.

"In honor of Senator Lindsey Graham, a big supporter, the U.S. Senate should pass the Clarity Act. China, and many other countries, would like to take complete and total control of this major financial 'happening,' as well as A.I., where we are now leading, but where they are fighting hard," Trump said in a Truth Social post. "Don’t let China win on either subject!!!"

Bill text is expected to be released in the next few days, according to three sources. Afterward, the full Senate could vote on the bill. The Senate has only until the first week of August to vote on the bill. If the Senate passes the bill, it goes back to the House before going to Trump's desk.

However, bill text may be on hold until an ethics deal is reached, the industry source said.

"Having ethics provisions in the bill is absolutely essential for this legislation to get the votes needed in the Senate," the source said. "What we need is for the White House very quickly, very early this week to put something on the table in order to keep this all moving or we're going to run out of time."