White House blames Democrats for blocking CLARITY Act

The White House and Senator Cynthia Lummis have blamed Senate Democrats for the failure of the CLARITY Act, a legislative effort intended to establish a comprehensive market framework for the cryptocurrency industry in the United States.

The bill, officially known as the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, sought to resolve long-standing jurisdictional disputes by assigning oversight of ‘digital commodities’ to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and leaving assets sold as investment contracts to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). While the legislation passed the House of Representatives with a 294-134 vote, it failed to reach the 60-vote threshold required in the Senate, receiving only 49 votes in favor.

White House officials stated that Democrats prioritized ‘political games’ over American technological innovation. Senator Lummis noted that despite incorporating bipartisan requirements and ethics provisions, Democrats still voted against the measure. Conversely, Democrats argued that the final language did not sufficiently address ethics concerns regarding President Trump and his family’s cryptocurrency ventures.