CLARITY Act Faces New Senate Threat Over Trump Crypto Gains

New Senate Analysis Examines Trump’s Crypto Businesses

Minority staff for the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee announced a new analysis on July 30, renewing Democratic objections before a potential Senate vote. Staff members contend that restrictions covering officials who issue or sponsor digital assets would preserve Trump’s existing business arrangements and enable similarly structured ventures.

The new analysis examines Trump’s reported crypto revenue streams individually, including World Liberty Financial, the TRUMP memecoin, cryptocurrency investments, staking income, and other ventures. It concludes that each would remain permissible under the current ethics language, arguing that the revised ethics provision would leave those financial arrangements largely unaffected.

The Senate Banking Committee minority staff declared after reviewing the revised legislative language:

“Any updated ethics provision must close these massive loopholes.”

The new review expands the committee minority’s previous criticism, which identified five alleged loopholes that would allow Trump to continue profiting from crypto under the CLARITY Act. It maintains that intermediaries, licensing agreements, third-party issuers, and family-affiliated entities could direct proceeds toward Trump without making him the formal issuer or sponsor.

Staff members calculated approximately $799 million from World Liberty Financial and $635 million from the TRUMP memecoin, accounting for nearly all the crypto income identified in their analysis. Their CLARITY Act ethics summary divides World Liberty revenue among governance-token proceeds, stablecoin income, equity sales, and crypto assets held through related entities.

Disclosure Shows Memecoin Royalties and Token-Sale Proceeds

Trump’s annual financial disclosure lists $635.1 million in royalties from a Celebration Coins licensing agreement connected with CIC Digital LLC. The filing also reports bitcoin and ether wallets valued above $50 million each, alongside validator rewards earned through Coinbase staking agreements.

World Liberty-related entries include hundreds of millions of dollars distributed from token sales, $65.6 million from an equity sale, and additional wallet-linked proceeds. Together with memecoin royalties and direct cryptocurrency holdings, those entries produced the approximately $1.4 billion in Trump’s 2025 crypto income calculated by Senate minority staff.

Minority staff argues that qualified blind trusts would preserve the financial value of directly held interests while separating formal management responsibilities. Its analysis of the proposed crypto ethics compromise also points to continued name, image, or likeness use, investments in digital assets, and official policymaking authority as separate channels for financial exposure.

Revised Bill Text Defines Restrictions and Exceptions

The Senate CLARITY Act draft would prohibit covered officials and their spouses from issuing or sponsoring digital assets for compensation during specified periods. It also creates provisions for qualified blind trusts, unauthorized third-party activity, continued use of an official’s likeness, and ownership of digital assets as investments.

Seven Democratic senators previously sought stronger provisions covering elected-official ethics, consumer protection, illicit finance, conflicts of interest, and market integrity. The July 30 analysis renews those earlier objections by arguing that the revised language leaves major financial arrangements untouched following Democrats’ rejection of the CLARITY Act draft.

Enforcement remains another central division, with minority staff objecting to exclusive federal authority and a provision ending enforcement after the covered official leaves office. Supporters maintain that federal enforcement follows existing ethics-law structures, while Democrats seek additional mechanisms for addressing presidential crypto conflicts and enforcement concerns.

The White House’s reported approval of a CLARITY Act ethics package revived the legislation after negotiations stalled over presidential conflicts and enforcement provisions. The new minority staff findings intensify that unresolved dispute, leaving senators to determine whether its restrictions can secure the cross-party support required for final passage.