Trump presses Congress to pass stalled CLARITY Act on crypto

By Rajwa Quasim

At a White House event with top industry executives on Wednesday, President Donald Trump urged Congress to pass the long-stalled CLARITY Act, saying it would bring clearer definitions and rules to the growing cryptocurrency sector.

The CLARITY Act, which remains stalled in Congress, would establish rules for determining which tokens qualify as securities or commodities and which agencies would oversee the sector. Lawmakers now have limited time to reach an agreement on the legislation before a new Congress takes office next year.

The act would allow a majority of crypto tokens to be classified as “digital commodities” and regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Some tokens would be classified as securities, keeping them under the oversight of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). A version of the CLARITY Act passed the House in July last year, but the legislation remains stalled in the Senate.

“We need Congress to take the next step by passing the CLARITY Act, a fair version of the CLARITY Act…It’s a very, very powerful structured legislation which will keep us ahead of China, keep us ahead of everyone else,” the president said. He described crypto as a “financial technology that has the potential to create more jobs, opportunity, and wealth for all Americans.”