The crypto industry saw Trump as its savior. His crypto business just snagged a key bill

By Allison Morrow, CNN

New York (CNN) — The crypto industry has spent years and hundreds of billions of dollars lobbying for regulation that would more closely weave digital assets into traditional finance. When President Donald Trump made a heel-turn on crypto in 2024, supporters hoped that he’d finally put an end to their regulatory limbo.

That dream hit the skids on Tuesday, when Republican senators failed to get the industry’s signature legislation through a key procedural vote. The final snag: Trump’s own crypto empire.

The president has raked in more than $1 billion from various crypto businesses that he and his sons launched shortly before he was sworn in last year.

Democrats, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, said the bill, known as the Clarity Act, didn’t sufficiently prevent public officials from trading crypto, among other concerns.

“This crypto bill says, ‘Have at it, Mr. President.’ … That’s just fundamentally wrong,” Warren told CNN in an interview Tuesday. “We need crypto regulation, and part of it should be to say that no one around here who has something to do with setting crypto policy can buy, sell or trade crypto.”

Republicans and some Democrats defended the bill, arguing that opponents had moved the goalposts after a year of negotiations. Supporters had presented a revised White House-approved ethics provisions on Sunday.