The Clarity Act (market structure bill), which would clearly determine which agency should regulate U.S. virtual assets, has stalled due to opposition from the Democratic Party, the opposition. Democrats are blocking the bill, saying a provision addressing President Donald Trump's 2 trillion won in coin private gains must be written into the law.
According to major foreign media including CryptoNews on the 20th, Republican Senate Majority Whip John Thune said he would put the Clarity Act to a vote by Aug. 10. Passage requires 60 votes in the Senate from the ruling Republicans and Democrats. Republicans currently hold 54 seats. Of these, a total of three senators have declared they will not participate due to opposition to the bill and health issues. Up to nine Democratic votes are needed.
The Clarity Act would clarify the legal status of virtual assets, which has been ambiguous. It allocates authority so that "securities" like stocks are overseen by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and "commodities" like gold are overseen by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
President Trump urged passage of the Clarity Act, but Democratic senators including Elizabeth Warren oppose moving the bill forward, noting that Trump has earned massive revenue from virtual asset businesses. Trump is said to have made more than as much as $1.4 billion (about 2 trillion won) in revenue through virtual asset ventures including meme coins (meme coin).
Democratic senators say they will not support the bill unless it includes an "ethics clause" to block the president's family from engaging in virtual asset businesses. They argue the bill must include an ethics clause preventing the president, vice president, senior executive branch officials, and members of Congress, as well as their families, from profiting through virtual asset businesses.
However, President Trump and Republican senators discussed an ethics clause on the 17th (local time) but ultimately failed to produce an agreed draft of the Clarity bill. Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego said in an interview, "The ethics provision proposed by Republicans is at a level Democrats can never accept," adding, "Regardless of the president's position, in its current form it will never win Democratic votes."
Cynthia Lummis, a Republican who chairs the Senate Banking Committee's Subcommittee on Virtual Assets, warned that if the Clarity Act does not pass next month, it could be delayed until 2030. The market expects that if the Clarity Act is not handled, constraints will persist on the virtual asset industry's ability to actively expand business.