This negotiation over the government conflict-of-interest piece had delayed progress on the Clarity Act for months — now potentially beyond the window in which it could most easily become law in 2026. This week’s release of the final working draft of Clarity included the first ethics language openly circulated, so Democrats are now responding — many of them with disdain.
“Donald Trump raked in more than $1.4 billion from cryptocurrency ventures, and this bill does nothing to prevent him from vacuuming up his next $1.4 billion in crypto profits,” said Senator Elizabeth Warren, the Massachusetts Democrat who is her party’s ranking member on the Senate Banking Committee, referring to the crypto earnings Trump disclosed for 2025. She said the president will “simply ignore the law” as it’s proposed.
So what does the language do? It temporarily bans senior government officials (including the president, vice president, members of Congress and federal judges) from issuing or sponsoring cryptocurrencies.
However, it excuses activity in the past, and there are plenty of crypto business pursuits that don’t check the boxes of issuance or sponsorship, so it’s unlikely Trump would be forced to abandon some of his most prominent ties, such as his ownership stake in World Liberty Financial. He might have to create some legal distance for himself, such as placing certain investments in trusts that he can’t access directly.