Van Hollen Statement on Opposition to Digital Assets Legislation

Today, U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), a senior member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, released the following statement regarding his vote against the CLARITY Act, cryptocurrency legislation that was considered by the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs:

"As we've seen time and again, cryptocurrency and digital assets are rife with opportunity for abuse if left unchecked. That's why any regulation surrounding digital assets must protect consumers, safeguard our financial system, and stamp out their use in corrupt and criminal activities. While the CLARITY Act may seek to do that, it not only fails to achieve those goals but also risks deregulating existing markets and opening the door to further corruption and abuse.

"In an effort to address some of these issues, I introduced several amendments, including one to ensure that no government official - not the President, not members of Congress - or their families can own, promote, or affiliate with digital asset issuers or platforms. As President Trump and his family rake in billions of dollars through illicit crypto deals with foreign governments, this provision is necessary to prevent self-dealing by those who are in positions to profit from their own decisions. But instead of choosing to stand up to this rampant corruption, Republicans blocked this amendment, siding once again with political cronyism and against the American people. I also offered an amendment to rein in the use of these assets for money laundering, sanctions evasion, and the financing of terrorism - a necessity as the use of digital assets, like DeFi, in illicit activities reached an all-time high last year. The Republican majority voted down this amendment. The other amendments I put forward would have increased consumer protections and transparency and taken additional steps to crack down on illicit finance and corruption; however, the Chair did not allow consideration of those amendments.

"Without adopting these and additional critical changes, the CLARITY Act will put our consumers, financial systems, and national security at risk. It's for these reasons that I voted against the CLARITY Act."

Senator Van Hollen's Amendments to the CLARITY Act :

• Prohibits the President, Vice President, members of Congress, senior officials, and their families from owning, promoting, or affiliating with digital asset issuers or platforms, and requires disclosures about officials' digital asset activities.
  Full text of the amendment is available here.

• Prohibits creating a DeFi platform for the purpose of facilitating sanctions evasion, money laundering, or the financing of terrorism.
  Full text of the amendment is available here.

• Prohibits self-dealing by digital asset issuers and insiders, requiring them to act in the best interests of holders of a digital asset.
  Full text of the amendment is available here.

• Requires that all investors in digital assets receive information that a digital asset issuer discloses to any one investor or to insiders, creating a level playing field about market-moving information.
  Full text of the amendment is available here.

• Prevents insider trading by requiring digital asset issuers and insiders to give up profits made by trading a digital asset over short windows of time.
  Full text of the amendment is available here.

• Provides the Federal Reserve with tools to regulate credit and leverage in digital asset markets, helping to limit systemic risk.
  Full text of the amendment is available here.

• Prohibits creating a decentralized finance (DeFi) platform either to enable illicit finance or with reckless disregard for illicit finance risks, while authorizing the Department of the Treasury to establish rules to prevent illicit finance in DeFi.
  Full text of the amendment is available here.

• Prohibits a person from advertising or promoting a digital asset without disclosing that they were paid for the ad or promotion.
  Full text of the amendment is available here.