coindesk.com
President Donald Trump's disclosure that the crypto sector had increased his wealth by some $1.4 billion is looming heavily over the ongoing discussions about satisfying Democratic lawmakers' demands that the crypto market structure bill include restrictions on such industry involvement for senior government officials.
In a briefing of U.S. Senate Democrats' offices on that provision, ethics and anti-corruption advocates rounded up by Senator Chris Murphy suggested last week that Trump needed to be prevented from further profit from the industry his administration is regulating, according to a person familiar with the discussion. The case was made that the ethics section of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act needed to extend to officials' familiar members and include bans on ownership and rules on disclosure.
The ethics provision is among the final sections of the Clarity Act that need to be ironed out if the bill is to advance to a Senate floor vote. The clock is running out on getting the legislation approved, and industry insiders are anxiously awaiting the latest draft of Clarity, which they expect in the next couple of days. But it isn't expected to have completed language on this section and a couple of other points also still being debated.
Earlier, bipartisan discussions had covered the possibilities of extending ethics implementation to a later period that might not impose immediate disruptions on Trump's extended crypto-related holdings, and that the limits would be on the government officials and not beyond them. But people briefed on the negotiations have said that they'd hit a recent wall, despite the dwindling available calendar for action in the Senate before the summer recess and the shift in focus to the midterm elections.
The Senate is back to work this week and has just a few weeks remaining before its major break. Senate Majority Leader John Thune had suggested that he'd press forward with a Clarity vote this month, whatever shape the bill is in. The talks now have the element of Trump's recent financial disclosures to contend with, in which he pocketed massive profits from sales of crypto assets and related income streams from the sector.
