Senate Pushes CLARITY Act Vote to September

TLDR

• The Senate will not vote on the CLARITY Act crypto bill before its August recess, pushing the decision to September.
• Senate Majority Leader John Thune blamed Democratic opposition for the delay.
• A bipartisan ethics proposal reportedly requires Trump to divest crypto businesses but would let him defer capital gains taxes.
• Trump’s 2025 disclosure showed $1.4 billion in crypto-related income, mostly from memecoin royalties and World Liberty Financial.
• The Crypto Council for Innovation called the delay disappointing but said the bill’s direction has not changed.

The US Senate will not vote on the CLARITY Act before leaving for its August recess. Senate Majority Leader John Thune confirmed the vote is being pushed to September.

Thune said Democrats are “insistent on no Clarity vote.” He added that Senator Lummis had worked closely with him and that the bill would be a top priority when the chamber returns.

The delay leaves one of the crypto industry’s key legislative goals unresolved. Republicans need 60 votes to overcome a filibuster, and they currently lack enough Democratic support.

Ji Hun Kim, CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation, called the postponement disappointing. He said every day without a legal framework pushes users and builders offshore.

Ethics Deal Tied to Trump’s Crypto Holdings

Bloomberg reported Thursday that a bipartisan ethics proposal could give President Trump a large tax benefit. The plan is tied to the CLARITY Act’s path through Congress.

The proposal would require Trump to divest from crypto-related businesses. In exchange, he could defer capital gains taxes on those sales, according to people familiar with the matter.

That tax deferral could save Trump millions of dollars. The ethics addendum itself has not been made public.

Democratic concerns about Trump’s crypto conflicts have slowed the bill for months. The tax break could give Democrats another reason to question whether the plan truly limits the president’s financial ties to the industry.

The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Trump’s Crypto Income in 2025

Trump’s annual financial disclosure, released in June, showed he earned $1.4 billion from crypto ventures last year. The 927-page filing broke down where that money came from.

Memecoins brought in the largest share. About $635 million came from royalties tied to a licensing deal for the Official Trump memecoin.

World Liberty Financial, the Trump family’s decentralized finance platform, was the second-largest source. It generated about $588 million from token sales.

The disclosure also listed $197 million from the sale of an equity stake in a stablecoin venture. Separately, an entity linked to Trump and his family owns about 38% of World Liberty’s parent company, according to the platform’s website.

The CLARITY Act itself would set up a federal framework for digital asset markets. It aims to clarify how oversight is split between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Politico reported that the bill still lacks Democratic support, and talks were ongoing as of Thursday. Thune may still file a procedural motion called cloture before the recess.

Filing cloture would not count as a vote on the bill. It could, however, set up a vote for when the Senate returns in mid-September.

Republicans would need unanimous consent from all 100 senators to finish other pending business and avoid extending this week’s session. As of Thursday, Democrats had not agreed to speed up that process.

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