Warren to rip Clarity Act on Senate floor ahead of key preliminary vote

Senate Banking Committee ranking member Elizabeth Warren will rip the cryptocurrency market structure bill known as the Clarity Act in a Monday night speech, as the Senate prepares for an all-important preliminary vote on the legislation Tuesday afternoon.

Warren, D-Mass., whose prepared remarks were shared first with CNBC, will call a new ethics provision in the measure that's been blessed by President Donald Trump a "weak fig leaf that will do nothing to stop him from making his next $1.4 billion in crypto profits."

Republicans leading the Clarity Act effort hope some Democrats will join them in supporting the bill, which would lay out rules of the road for the crypto industry. At least 60 affirmative votes are needed for the bill to advance past Tuesday's vote.

GOP leaders of the crypto bill released updated legislative language late Sunday that they said includes new ethics provisions Democrats sought. The new provision would allow state attorneys general to enforce the ethics provision, which would bar the U.S. president and other senior government officials from issuing digital assets. The bill's ethics language has remained one of the primary hurdles in the Clarity Act debate.