Analyst: Trump’s Meme Coin Is a Major Roadblock to the CLARITY Act

The CLARITY Act, the most consequential crypto legislation working through the US Senate, is stalling partly because of President Donald Trump’s own meme coin. That’s the argument being made publicly by at least one analyst who says the broader industry is too close to the president to say it loud. Trump’s Token Is Giving Democrats Ammunition Crypto analyst Simon Dedic posted on X on Tuesday, writing that: “Trump’s meme coin is currently the biggest obstacle to crypto regulation right now.” His case is fairly simple: Democrats are pointing to the president’s gala dinners with the biggest holders of his Official Trump meme coin and the retail wealth that has evaporated around the token as justification to demand ethics clauses before they’ll vote yes. “The ‘pro crypto president’ is actively sabotaging the legislation this industry needs most, just to further fill his own bags,” Dedic wrote. He didn’t stop there: “The reason nobody in crypto calls this out? Because half the industry’s most important people were at that dinner on Saturday. Smiling, clapping and kissing the ring of the man whose meme coin is single-handedly delaying the regulation they claim to be fighting for.” The ethics issue has now crossed party lines, as Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, a member of the Senate Banking Committee, told Politico that ethics language has to be in the bill before it leaves the Senate, or he would go from negotiating it to voting against it. Senator Adam Schiff told the same outlet that talks are advancing and that negotiators are “narrowing our differences,” although nobody has said what the ethics provision would actually look like. That fight is sitting on top of several other issues that still aren’t resolved. For instance, the Senate Banking Committee reportedly skipped its expected markup hearing last week, with a vote on Fed Chair nominee Kevin Warsh getting moved ahead of the CLARITY Act on the committee’s calendar. A Tight Window and Competin...