Senate crypto bills as Tillis seeks restrictions on White House crypto activity
Senator Thom Tillis has threatened to oppose the Senate’s crypto market structure bill unless there are ethical restrictions on the White House’s crypto work.
Summary
- Senator Thom Tillis will oppose the Senate crypto bill if ethical restrictions on the White House’s crypto work are not added, according to Politico.
- Senator Ruben Gallego said the bill cannot proceed without bipartisan agreement on the conduct provisions tied to federal officials.
According to Politico, Tillis said she would withdraw support for the bill if it leaves the Senate without provisions that limit how government officials, including those in the executive branch, engage in digital assets.
“There has to be ethics language in this bill before it gets out of the Senate, or I’m going to walk away from one of the people working to negotiate it and vote against it,” he told the publication.
Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego tied the bill’s progress to bipartisan agreement on the same issue, telling Politico that “there is no final bill — no final movement — unless there is bipartisan agreement when it comes to the ethics provision.”
A senior member of the Senate Banking Committee, Tillis has influence over whether the proposal moves forward, especially as the chamber works to harmonize its version with the House-passed Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, which was repealed in July and splits oversight between the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The moral clause appears as a central obstacle
Debate over conflicts of interest has intensified as Democratic lawmakers scrutinize crypto businesses linked to former President Donald Trump and his family, saying the law should include protections for government officials who fund or develop digital assets.
Senator Adam Schiff told Politico that negotiations have just reached a conclusion after months of limited progress.
“We are making progress,” he said, adding that negotiations are reducing tensions as other sections of the bill progress.
Earlier this year, Schiff proposed a ban that would include “sponsoring, endorsing or issuing digital assets” for all government employees, including the president, citing concerns about memecoins and NFTs associated with Trump’s name and likeness.
The delay goes beyond an ethical argument
Similar disagreements over stablecoin yield provisions have also slowed the bill’s path, with Tillis working with Senator Angela Alsobrooks to draft compromise language that addresses whether firms can offer interest on inactive stablecoin balances.
As reported by Politico in April, banking groups warned that yield-generating stablecoins could draw deposits away from traditional institutions, while crypto firms, including Coinbase, said limiting such incentives would limit market growth and innovation.
Even as negotiations continue, the bill still faces committee hurdles before reaching a full Senate vote, leaving both ethics provisions and stablecoin regulations unresolved at a stage where bipartisanship is still needed to move forward.
