Senate Republicans are moving the CLARITY Act toward a floor vote the week of July 20, and the crypto bill now carries ethics rules aimed at President Donald Trump, the vice president and their spouses. Sen. Cynthia Lummis said the package, which runs more than 600 pages, is meant to bring stability and regulatory certainty to US crypto markets.
That timing is why the bill is suddenly drawing so much attention. Lummis said the legislation has been developed over 10 months and is now on the cusp of reaching the Senate floor, making the coming vote the first real test of whether Republicans can turn a long-running policy push into a live set of rules for digital assets.
The ethics section is not a side note. It would bar federal officials from creating their own digital currency for profit, block them from promoting or endorsing crypto, and set up a divestiture or blind trust requirement one year after enactment. Officials would still be allowed to own crypto, but they would have to disclose sales. The White House signed off on the provisions, which means the fight is not over whether they can survive an initial review but whether they will stay intact once the bill is on the floor.
That is where the political friction has sharpened. Democrats say the provisions do not go far enough to stop Trump from profiting off crypto, even with the White House’s approval. Elizabeth Warren argued that if the bill does not stop the president from profiting from crypto and using it as a way to take bribes in public, then it is not really an ethics fix. Lummis pushed back, saying the bill is not supposed to be written around one person holding one office for two years, and said Trump agreed he would have the choice to put his assets in a blind trust or divest from digital assets and companies that derive revenue from them.
Trump’s own financial picture explains why the issue has become so combustible. His income between 2024 and 2025 rose by about 250%, from just over $620 million to about $2.2 billion, with much of the increase tied to his holdings and ventures in crypto. Those interests are run by his sons, Don Jr. and Eric, which leaves the Senate trying to write a rulebook for the market while also deciding how much daylight should exist between public office and private gain. The next step is the Senate floor vote the week of July 20, and it will show whether the ethics provisions survive as written or become the first casualty of a larger crypto deal.
