Trump’s Crypto Conflict Of Interest Killed The Industry’s Dream Bill

WASHINGTON — The cryptocurrency industry spent hundreds of millions of dollars on campaigns over the past two years, ending the careers of crypto skeptics and sending a strong message that “digital assets” had better be respected on Capitol Hill.

And with President Donald Trump in the White House, crypto had a chance to capitalize on its investment. But the president’s embrace of digital assets — and the billion dollars he made in crypto last year — wound up killing the industry’s highest priority: a bill that would have enshrined its place in the financial system.

In other words, Trump’s otherworldly levels of corruption made it impossible for standard methods of Washington influence-peddling to work their magic.

“Donald Trump has enriched himself at such a grotesque level, it’s hard to see the sun around that,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) told HuffPost.

A dozen Democrats had provided significant input for the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, and had supported a narrower bill benefiting the crypto industry last year, but they all voted against the Clarity Act on Tuesday, seemingly killing its prospects for good.

The bill would give the crypto industry a favorable regulatory and legal footing after industry players faced dozens of lawsuits during the Biden administration for failing to comply with corporate transparency laws. And Republicans included a provision on presidential ethics in order to win over Democrats, but the proposal still left ethics enforcement up to the U.S. attorney general, meaning the Trump administration would be allowed to police itself.