Trump’s memecoin ventures derailed CLARITY Act, Scaramucci says

The CLARITY Act was meant to settle the long-running turf war between the SEC and CFTC over who regulates digital assets, a question that has lingered since the 2022 FTX collapse exposed the gap in U.S. market-structure law. The House passed its version earlier in 2025, leaving the Senate to find 60 votes. Trump's $TRUMP memecoin, launched in January 2025, had already drawn conflict-of-interest criticism before the bill reached the floor.

Without a Senate-passed framework, exchanges, custodians and token issuers continue operating under the same patchwork of SEC enforcement actions and state rules that predates this bill. Firms betting on a near-term safe harbor for spot-market trading must now wait for a fresh legislative push. Democrats who might have supplied votes have a new reason to hold out, tying their support to ethics provisions rather than market-structure details alone.

A sitting president's token launches becoming a bargaining chip in market-structure talks exposes how personal financial conduct can override policy substance in Washington. Scaramucci's account, that both sides share blame, cuts against the simpler story of partisan obstruction and suggests the bill's collapse reflects a genuine ethics dispute, not just politics. Crypto legislation meant to attract bipartisan support instead became entangled with questions about presidential self-dealing.

The September 15 vote, 49 in favor against 50 opposed, left the bill seven votes short of the 60 needed for cloture, and no new floor date has been set. Watch whether Senate sponsors strip out or renegotiate the ethics language Scaramucci cited, since that compromise, not the underlying market-structure provisions, appears to be what cost the bill its Democratic votes.

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