Ethics language agreement reached between White House and Senate on crypto market structure legislation
Bitcoin surged past $66,000 on Tuesday, hitting a seven-week peak, following news of a White House agreement on ethics language included in the CLARITY Act.
Officials from the White House have come to terms on specific provisions within a cryptocurrency market structure bill, a development that may secure backing from certain Democratic legislators in the United States Senate.
A report published Tuesday by Punchbowl indicated that representatives from the White House held discussions with Republican Senators Cynthia Lummis and Bernie Moreno, ultimately reaching consensus on ethics-related language to be incorporated into the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act currently under Senate deliberation.
While neither Lummis nor Moreno have made public statements revealing the specifics of this agreement, which could potentially pave the way for Democratic backing in what analysts anticipate will be a closely contested Senate vote, the report indicated that the arrangement may have implications for US President Donald Trump's cryptocurrency holdings.
The CLARITY Act was approved by the House of Representatives during July 2025 as a component of the Republican party's "Crypto Week" legislative initiative, though it has encountered multiple postponements in Congress stemming from government shutdowns, legislative concerns regarding ethics standards, tokenization issues and stablecoin reward mechanisms, as well as language designed to shield developers from regulatory enforcement measures. Numerous legislators and crypto industry proponents anticipate the Senate will take up the bill prior to the chamber's August recess for state work periods, though as of Tuesday, the congressional calendar showed no scheduled vote and the bill's text remained unavailable to the public.
No certainty for 60-vote threshold
During the previous week, Trump called upon the Senate to approve CLARITY "in honor of" the late Senator Lindsey Graham, describing the deceased lawmaker as "a big supporter" of the proposed legislation. Numerous cryptocurrency industry leaders and members of Congress have voiced their public endorsement of the bill, though uncertainty remains regarding whether the measure will achieve the 60-vote threshold required in the Senate, given that many Democrats harbor concerns about possible conflicts of interest involving the Trump administration.
Multiple Senate Democrats, including Elizabeth Warren, Chris Murphy, Jeff Merkley and Chris Van Hollen stated that any version of the CLARITY bill would prove "worthless" in the absence of ethics provisions specifically designed to address Trump's connections to the cryptocurrency sector, which encompass his memecoin and his family's involvement with World Liberty Financial business. Cointelegraph sought clarification on the agreement from Lummis' office but had not received an immediate response.
A representative from the White House informed Cointelegraph that the administration remained "committed to working with Congress to see the CLARITY Act advance and has agreed to the most comprehensive and wide-ranging ethics provision in history," further noting that it had "bent over backward to accommodate [Democrats'] concerns."
Ryan VanGrack, vice chair at Coinbase, stated that Democrats have already successfully negotiated the inclusion of provisions focused on customer protection within the Senate version of the bill. Nevertheless, numerous legislators continue to demand hearings to examine Trump's investments and connections to the industry prior to any vote taking place.
Bitcoin price climbs amid CLARITY talks
The value of Bitcoin (BTC) climbed beyond $66,000 during the early hours of Tuesday, achieving a seven-week high coinciding with news reports of an ethics agreement and Trump's announcement regarding plans to implement an additional 10% international trade tariffs.
"The reason that prices are running upwards are entirely dedicated towards the potential approval of the Clarity Act. Things are brighter and brighter, and as the charts technically look incredible from here, it looks likely that we'll see the Clarity Act being approved shortly."
Michaël van de Poppe, founder and chief investment officer of MN Fund and MN Capital