U.S. Senate Democrats Oppose CLARITY Act, Call It a ‘Corrupt’ Crypto Bill
Quick Reads
- Who: Sens. Chris Murphy (D-CT), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Jeff Merkley (D-OR), aligned with Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s position
- What: Public opposition to the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act in its current form
- Why: The bill still lacks a firm ethics provision barring the president and senior officials from personal crypto business
- Stakes: The bill needs a significant bloc of Democratic votes to clear the Senate’s 60-vote threshold before the summer recess
- Ammunition: Trump’s recent financial disclosures reportedly show over $1 billion in crypto-related earnings in 2025
Momentum behind the Clarity Act, the Senate’s effort to establish market structure rules for digital assets, is running into a wall of Democratic resistance. At a Washington press conference this week, three Democratic senators argued there are “lots of reasons” to oppose the crypto legislation, even as bill negotiators race to shape a version capable of winning enough Democratic votes to overcome a filibuster.
Murphy, Van Hollen, and Merkley have each previously voiced criticism of the bill, and this week they hardened that stance, a position also shared by Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Van Hollen, who sits on the Senate Banking Committee, described the Clarity Act as harmful legislation tainted by corruption concerns.
The core sticking point remains unresolved: a proposed section that would bar senior government officials, including the president, from personally participating in the crypto industry. Many Democrats, including some who voted for the bill in committee, have said that provision is non-negotiable.
Murphy, who hasn’t been part of the bipartisan negotiating table, was especially pointed, framing the absence of a conflict-of-interest ban as self-defeating for the bill’s credibility. He argued that allowing Trump’s dominance over an industry he’d have regulatory power over would itself embed corruption into the law. He called it striking that the legislation has advanced this far without fully separating Trump and his family’s financial interests from the crypto industry.
Adding fuel to the Democrats’ case: recently disclosed financial records reportedly show Trump earned more than $1 billion from crypto ventures in 2025, which Murphy characterized in blunt terms as a scheme combining token sales to supporters with what he called a channel for large-scale influence over the administration.
As of now, there’s no indication that Republicans and the White House are close to a compromise that would satisfy Democratic holdouts, even as a revised draft of the bill was expected as early as Tuesday.
