Trump-Backed Crypto Bill Fails Senate Vote Amid Ethics Fight Over His Family's Holdings

The Senate failed 49-50 on a procedural cloture vote Tuesday to advance the Clarity Act, a roughly 600-page bill that would have created the first comprehensive federal regulatory framework for the crypto industry, splitting oversight between the SEC and CFTC. Sixty votes were needed; all Democrats and four Republicans -- Susan Collins, Josh Hawley, Jerry Moran and Thom Tillis -- voted no.

The central dispute was an ethics provision, revised over the weekend before the vote, meant to bar federally elected officials and spouses from issuing their own cryptocurrencies and to require divestment of "significant" crypto holdings. Democrats, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren, argued the language was too loose and that enforcement by a DOJ led by Trump's former personal attorney, Todd Blanche, would not meaningfully check the president. Concerns intensified after Trump disclosed his family earned $1.4 billion from crypto ventures in 2025.

The bill is not dead: a Republican senator's procedural motion allows it to be reconsidered later.