Senate Democrats have ignited a significant political debate by proposing an amendment to the Crypto-Asset Market Structure Act (CLARITY bill) that would prohibit the president, vice president, and all members of Congress from conducting financial transactions using digital assets. The amendment, titled the "Digital Asset Ethics Act," was filed by Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) ahead of a scheduled markup hearing in the Senate Agriculture Committee on Tuesday, January 27, 2026.
The legislative move is a direct response to growing scrutiny of political figures' cryptocurrency holdings, specifically targeting potential conflicts of interest for President Donald Trump. Bloomberg previously estimated that President Trump has earned approximately $1.4 billion from crypto-related ventures, including the stablecoin initiative World Liberty Financial and a 20% stake in the mining firm American Bitcoin. The Trump family's involvement in DeFi and stablecoin projects has raised ethical concerns among many Democrats.
The proposed ban would cover all digital assets, including cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and tokens, and includes no grandfathering provisions. This means officials would need to divest existing holdings or place them in blind trusts upon the law's implementation. Enforcement would fall to existing congressional ethics committees and executive branch oversight bodies.
The amendment is part of a broader legislative push for a sweeping cryptocurrency market structure bill. Democratic support is considered essential for the bill's passage, as 60 votes are required in the Senate. The Senate Agriculture Committee, led by Republican Chair Sen. John Boozman, released its bill text last week but noted that "fundamental policy issues" remained unresolved. Other amendments filed include provisions to prevent fake transactions at digital asset kiosks and one from Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) that would delay the bill's effectiveness until at least four commissioners are appointed to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which currently has only one commissioner, Chair Michael Selig.
This development follows the collapse of a separate markup in the Senate Banking Committee last week after Coinbase withdrew its support over concerns regarding tokenized equities, DeFi, regulatory roles for the SEC and CFTC, and the treatment of stablecoin rewards.
