The central flashpoint is an ethics provision that would restrict senior government officials from profiting from digital assets while in office. President Trump’s July 1 financial disclosure showed roughly $1.4 billion in crypto-related income for 2025, hardening Democratic demands. Senators Chris Murphy, Chris Van Hollen, and Jeff Merkley held a press conference on July 14 calling the bill a “corrupt piece of legislation” and arguing that it must directly address what they termed “Trump’s crypto corruption.”
On July 21, President Trump approved an ethics framework negotiated with Republican senators, including Cynthia Lummis and Bernie Moreno. The language would ban the president, vice president, members of Congress, federal judges, and their spouses from issuing or sponsoring digital assets for compensation while in office, with the restriction lasting until January 20, 2029. It would also require covered officials to either sell their crypto holdings or place them in a qualified blind trust.
But the enforcement design has already cost the bill a key Democratic vote. The proposal assigns enforcement exclusively to the Department of Justice, with no role for state attorneys general. Senator Alsobrooks called the DOJ-only model an “unserious offer” and said she would not support the bill in that form. A mechanism that would have allowed state attorneys general to sue the DOJ for failing to enforce the rules was withdrawn by Republicans in a closed-door session in June, collapsing an earlier near-deal.