US Senators Introduce Major Crypto Bill Amendments Targeting Ethics Risks
The US Democratic Senators filed a slew of amendments on Friday to the pending CLARITY Act, a move they hope will give the country's...
Quick overview
- US Democratic Senators have filed multiple amendments to the CLARITY Act, focusing on ethics, transparency, and market integrity in the crypto sector.
- A significant proposal, the 'Digital Asset Ethics Act,' aims to prevent top officials from engaging in certain crypto deals to avoid conflicts of interest.
- Bipartisan cooperation is essential for the bill's success, with a crucial debate scheduled for January 30, 2026.
- Despite ongoing negotiations, fundamental disagreements remain between parties, but optimism persists for establishing a clearer regulatory framework for the crypto market.
The US Democratic Senators filed a slew of amendments on Friday to the pending CLARITY Act, a move they hope will give the country’s crypto market a serious re-make. With a Senate Agriculture Committee markup just around the corner next week, the proposed changes are aimed squarely at ethics, transparency, and good old-fashioned market integrity.
- And don’t forget: these amendments cover both maintaining high ethical standards for digital assets and safeguarding transactions.
- Big debate scheduled for Tuesday, January 30, 2026 – a date you can put in your diary.
- And make no mistake – for this to pass, they’ll need to work together – it’s going to take bipartisan cooperation to get those 60 votes in the bag.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) did a bit of flag-waving for the ongoing bipartisan negotiations, citing the fact that two complementary crypto bills – one under the Agriculture Committee, which would put the CFTC in charge, and one under the Banking Committee with SEC oversight – are chugging along nicely at the same time.
Ethics and Conflict-of-Interest Measures
One of the most eye-catching proposals has to be the “Digital Asset Ethics Act” – and it’s no surprise that Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) is the one who brought it to the table. This little beauty would stop top officials ( including the President, Vice President, and members of Congress) from getting into certain crypto deals – a bit of a response to the worry that there might be some conflicts of interest floating around.
🇺🇲The U.S. Senate has introduced an updated version of the crypto market structure bill and the next meeting is set for January 27th! #PiNetwork pic.twitter.com/yzicIPcWdg
— AYYILDIZ3253 (@AYYILDIZ3253) January 24, 2026
- The whole thing was sparked by some disturbing reports that former President Trump made a tidy sum from crypto projects ( we’re talking $1.4 Billion here, according to Bloomberg), including DeFi and stablecoin initiatives – the Trump family even own 20% of American Bitcoin, plus a major crypto-mining firm to boot.
- And just to put the icing on the cake, they also happen to own a major crypto-mining firm.
Other amendments are designed to put the brakes on fake transactions at digital asset kiosks, with Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) proposing that the bill gets put on the back burner until at least four CFTC commissioners are appointed. Right now, they’ve only got one active commissioner, which is a pretty big limitation on their regulatory powers.
Legislative Challenges and Outlook
Even with all the negotiations, there are still fundamental disagreements between the two parties over this bill. Sen. John Boozman (R-AR), chair of the Agriculture Committee, admitted as much, but he also had a few words of praise for the bipartisan effort to get this thing sorted out.
- Both committees are trying to get their respective acts together to draft revised regulations for crypto trading, borrowing, and market transparency.
- Not that it was plain sailing – the Banking Committee markup got delayed because some crypto outfits, like Coinbase, were being a bit oppositional.
Gillibrand is still pretty optimistic about progress, though, and is urging her fellow senators to revisit some of those compromises that were already on the table. With a bit of luck and a lot of careful amendments, this legislation might just help establish a clearer regulatory framework for the US crypto market – one that addresses all the ethics and investor protection issues along the way.
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