US President Donald Trump wants lawmakers to pass crypto market structure legislation in honor of the late Senator Lindsey Graham, who died unexpectedly on Saturday.
Trump took to Truth Social on Monday morning to whip votes for the Clarity Act.
“In honor of Senator Lindsey Graham, a big supporter, the U.S. Senate should pass the Clarity Act. China, and many other countries, would like to take complete and total control of this major financial ‘happening,’ as well as A.I., where we are now leading, but where they are fighting hard. Don’t let China win on either subject!!!”
The landmark crypto bill would largely place the digital assets under the regulatory purview of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), an agency industry stakeholders believe is friendlier to the sector than the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The potential legislation has faced opposition from traditional financial giants and banking associations, who have argued the bill could put financial stability at risk and cause bank deposits to lose ground to stablecoins.
In June, JPMorgan Chase chief executive Jamie Dimon said the potential legislation lacked adequate guardrails to protect investors and failed to address the Bank Secrecy Act/Anti-Money Laundering (BSA/AML) law that aims to combat illicit financial transactions.
“It allows them to effectively pay interest on deposits—stablecoins or something like that—without the protection that they should have and it doesn’t do anything for AML/BSA. It has almost no legal protection.”
As the banking sector’s opposition to the bill solidified, Polymarket bettors’ confidence in the Clarity Act’s chances of passing this year dwindled, with its odds falling from a high of 82% in February to 40% at time of writing.
Some regulators have voiced the opposite opinion, with CFTC Chairman Michael Selig recently calling on senators to pass the legislation, emphasizing the need for a federal framework and statutory guardrails for crypto assets.
“It’s absolutely critical that we have federal standards for crypto assets. And right now we’ve dealt with a patchwork of state laws and regulations, and it’s really been bad for business here in the United States. We want to get this done so that we have certainty and clarity, and consumer protection should be a bipartisan issue. We’ve got to get it across the line.”
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