STATEMENT: Sen. Schiff Statement on the Clarity Act

Washington, D.C. - Today, U.S. Senator Schiff (D-Calif.) issued the following statement on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act:

"I have long believed that Congress should institute rules of the road for the digital asset industry to protect consumers and our global financial system, and to ensure an even playing field with regulatory certainty for the industry. Equally important is ensuring that digital assets are not used for corrupt profit schemes by elected officials, nor used to evade sanctions or fund illicit financial and other criminal activity. This bill achieves some of these important goals, but unfortunately not all of them.

"From the beginning of this process, I have been clear that I will not support market structure legislation which fails to establish strong and enforceable ethics provisions in light of this administration's complete disregard for ethical norms and President Trump's entanglement of personal profit with his official duties. My position from the beginning has been simple, and something both Democrats and Republicans should support: all elected and senior government officials must be prohibited from issuing, sponsoring, and endorsing digital assets. No public official, including those currently serving in government, should get a carveout.

"After more than a year of intensive negotiations with my Senate Democratic colleagues, Republican counterparts and the White House, the administration has made clear it is not willing to reach a deal that would put an end to the President's profiteering through digital assets.

"Over the last two years, we have seen an unprecedented level of pay to play corruption made possible by the Trump family's role in World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency company founded just days before the inauguration. This has opened the door for foreign governments to funnel hundreds of millions of dollars to the President in an apparent effort to obtain special treatment ranging from the sale of AI chips to the pardoning of convicted felons. This behavior undermines the integrity of our markets and American families suffer the costs.

"I strongly believe that the digital asset industry needs regulatory clarity and that Americans would benefit from market structure legislation. I wanted to get a deal on ethics that the American people could support and understand, and I worked hard to get there. I'm grateful to my colleagues for working in good faith with me on this and other critical issues. And while I support aspects of this bill, the ethics provisions included do not meet the mark. I also have concerns that there was not meaningful consultation with the Tribes and as a result the bill does not address their concerns over gambling in the prediction markets. The bill does nothing to rein in the CFTC's blatant violation of tribal and state sovereignty and Congress's intent with respect to state regulation of gaming.

"For these reasons, I voted against today's procedural vote on the Clarity Act. But I remain open to continuing to work to get an ethics deal that will be acceptable to the American people and crack down on corruption by any and all public officials."

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