Senator Thom Tillis has issued a stark ultimatum, warning he will oppose the Senate's crypto market structure bill unless it includes binding ethics rules that restrict how White House officials and other federal employees engage with digital assets. According to Politico, Tillis stated unequivocally that he would withdraw his support for the legislation if it advances without such provisions, signaling that his role in negotiations could quickly turn into outright opposition.
“There has to be ethics language in the bill before it leaves the Senate, or I’ll go from one of the people working on negotiating it to voting against it,” Tillis told the publication. He is a senior member of the Senate Banking Committee and holds significant influence over the bill's path through the chamber.
Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego echoed this stance, tying the bill's viability to a bipartisan agreement on the same issue. “There is no final bill — there is no final movement — unless there is a bipartisan agreement when it comes to the ethics provision,” Gallego told Politico.
The debate over conflict of interest has intensified as Democratic lawmakers scrutinize crypto ventures linked to former President Donald Trump and his family. Senator Adam Schiff has previously proposed a ban covering all federal employees, including the president, from sponsoring, endorsing, or issuing digital assets, citing concerns over politically linked token projects like memecoins and NFTs. On the current negotiations, Schiff noted progress, stating, “We’re making progress,” adding that discussions are narrowing differences as other parts of the legislation fall into place.
The ethics push adds to existing delays. The House passed its version of the bill, the CLARITY Act, in July, which divided regulatory authority between the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The Senate bill's progress has already been slowed by parallel disputes over stablecoin yield rules. Tillis and Senator Angela Alsobrooks have been drafting language to address whether platforms can offer interest on idle stablecoin balances, a point of contention between traditional banks and crypto firms like Coinbase.
The final wording of the proposed ethics provisions remains undisclosed, leaving the bill's timeline uncertain as it moves through committee review.
