Trump’s crypto riches loom over Clarity Act talks to ban conflicts for U.S. officials

On Monday, several Senate Democrats announced that they’d hold a press conference this week to state their opposition to Clarity and what they said is its “failure to rein in President Donald Trump’s corrupt crypto schemes.” Senator Murphy will join senators Chris Van Hollen and Jeff Merkley at that event on Capitol Hill, which will also highlight their claims that the crypto sector’s Washington influence is causing “growing political corruption.”

One of the lawmakers involved in the ethics discussions, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, recently noted that Trump’s largest single 2025 income stream, $636 million, came from issuing the memecoin that bore his name. She said that she and fellow Democrats have been pushing to make it illegal for presidents to issue or sponsor any digital assets.

“We cannot let self-dealing destroy an opportunity to strengthen consumer protections, crack down on illicit finance and expand economic opportunity for the millions of Americans our financial system has left behind,” Gillibrand said in a statement. “The time to act is now — and that must include ethics reforms that prohibit members of Congress, the president and their spouses from cashing in on their office.”

Though Clarity would need many Democrats to join with Republicans if advocates want to hit the necessary 60-vote threshold for Senate passage, Gillibrand and other Democrats have said that the bill can’t pass until this is addressed.