White House cryptocurrency advisor Patrick Witt criticized Democrats for turning President Donald Trump’s cryptocurrency earnings into a “political issue” even after “unprecedented” ethics provisions were negotiated into the CLARITY Act.
Trump Agreed to Democrats’ Ethics Demand
During an interaction at the Financial Markets Quality Conference, Witt said the opposition was “somewhat ironic” given that Senators on banking committees themselves hold and actively trade stocks in the financial companies they regulate.
While this is true, Senators are legally allowed to own and trade individual stocks, provided they report those transactions within the required timelines.
“Putting that aside, the president agreed to not one, but two different ethics provisions that were unprecedented in nature,” Witt said.
He added that Trump agreed to ban all federal officials, including himself, from issuing or sponsoring digital assets, and to either divest significant cryptocurrency holdings or place them in a blind trust.
‘Aggressive’ Banking Lobby Blamed
Witt also blamed the “aggressive” banking lobby for derailing the cryptocurrency legislation.
He pointed out that if the lobby’s claim were true—that the bill’s failure would mean the death of community banking—then community banks themselves were the biggest losers from the failed vote.
The banks opposed provisions that allowed third-party cryptocurrency platforms to offer rewards on stablecoin holdings. A proposed compromise banning yields on passive holdings while allowing rewards tied to active trading was drafted, but even that faced opposition.
“We went above and beyond to address those concerns, even though personally I don’t think they were valid,” Witt said.
He added that the bill got caught up in “greater political struggle” and that the lack of clarity in the cryptocurrency market will only get worse.
Trump’s Crypto Dealings ‘Complicated’ the Process?
The CLARITY Act died for 2026 in the Senate, falling short of the 60 votes needed to advance, as key Democratic negotiators who spent months on the bill voted no.
Notably, Nic Carter, a partner at Castle Island Ventures and a Trump supporter, said the president “needlessly complicated” the legislative process by intertwining himself and his family with cryptocurrency.
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
Photo Courtesy: Kirill Aleksandrovich on Shutterstock.com
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