US Senate CLARITY Act Ethics Talks Stall as Democrats, Republicans Trade Blame

Negotiations over ethics provisions in the US Senate's CLARITY Act, a bill to establish a market structure for digital assets, have run into trouble.

Eleanor Terrett, host of CryptoAmerica, said on June 10 that a Democratic official familiar with bipartisan Senate meetings described the talks as "rocky."

The official argued that Republican senators and the White House had made an "about-face" by walking back terms the two sides had agreed to before last month's Senate Banking Committee markup of the CLARITY Act.

According to Democrats, that earlier agreement included language allowing state attorneys general to sue the Department of Justice if it failed to enforce certain ethics rules.

Republicans disputed that account. They said some senators who were not involved in the earlier discussions later raised concerns during follow-up negotiations.

Republican officials said those concerns focused on whether state attorneys general should have the power to sue federal officials or members of Congress.

The dispute centers on conflict-of-interest safeguards and ethics rules Democrats have sought during negotiations over the CLARITY Act. Those provisions have become a central sticking point after conflict-of-interest questions emerged around crypto businesses and stablecoin projects tied to the Trump family.

Earlier, Galaxy Research's Alex Thorn lowered his estimate for the CLARITY Act's chances of passing in 2026 to 60% from 75%, saying disagreements over ethics provisions and illicit finance had yet to be resolved.