White House Crypto Adviser Denies Trump's Crypto Interests Blocked Clarity Act

Patrick Witt, executive director of the White House Digital Assets Advisory Council, defended President Trump's crypto ties at the Financial Markets Quality conference at Georgetown University on Wednesday, denying that his personal crypto interests caused last week's Senate setback for the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act. He said Democrats had politicized the issue and questioned why the recently passed housing bill did not require similarly strict ethics review.

Witt said Trump has agreed to two unprecedented ethics provisions: potentially being forced to divest crypto assets or place them in a blind trust, and allowing state attorneys general to sue when the federal government fails to investigate ethics violations. He called accusations of conflicts of interest "ironic" and blamed banking lobbyists for pushing to stall the bill over concerns that stablecoins would compete with interest-bearing deposits, saying current efforts are shifting focus to federal regulators such as the SEC.