The CLARITY Act, the most significant crypto legislation currently moving through the U.S. Senate, is facing delays — in part because of President Donald Trump’s meme coin.
At least one analyst says the token has become a political liability, making it difficult for members of Congress to move forward without addressing ethical concerns tied to the president.
Trump’s Token Is Giving Democrats Ammunition
Crypto analyst Simon Dedic posted on X that:
“Trump’s meme coin is currently the biggest obstacle to crypto regulation right now.”
His argument is straightforward: Democrats are using the president’s gala dinners with major holders of the Official Trump meme coin and the significant retail losses tied to the token as reasons to demand ethics protections before supporting the bill.
“The ‘pro crypto president’ is actively sabotaging the legislation this industry needs most, just to further fill his own bags,” Dedic wrote.
He added that many influential people in the crypto sector attended that dinner — behavior he says has made it politically difficult for the industry to criticize the president’s role:
“The reason nobody in crypto calls this out? Because half the industry’s most important people were at that dinner on Saturday. Smiling, clapping and kissing the ring of the man whose meme coin is single-handedly delaying the regulation they claim to be fighting for.”
The ethics concern has crossed party lines. Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, a member of the Senate Banking Committee, told Politico that ethics language must be included in the bill before it leaves the Senate or he will switch from negotiating to voting against it.
Senator Adam Schiff said talks are progressing and that negotiators are “narrowing our differences,” though specifics about what an ethics provision would require have not been revealed.
This ethics debate sits atop several unresolved issues. The Senate Banking Committee reportedly postponed an expected markup hearing last week, moving a vote on Fed Chair nominee Kevin Warsh ahead of the CLARITY Act on the committee’s agenda.
A Tight Window and Competing Pressures
Time is limited for advancing the bill during this legislative cycle. Ji Kim, CEO of the Crypto Council for Innovation, noted the Senate has roughly 13 weeks of floor time remaining, but recesses and a busy schedule effectively reduce that to about nine or ten weeks.
Despite the timing pressure, some lawmakers remain optimistic. Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis told the Bitcoin 2026 conference in Las Vegas that a markup is expected in May and that the bill will “get to the finish line.”
Businessman Bernie Moreno reportedly said at a Washington event that he expects the bill to be finished by the end of May and dismissed concerns from the banking industry over stablecoin yield issues as “noise” and “completely fake.”
Galaxy Digital CEO Mike Novogratz predicted on a podcast that the bill would be finalized in May and that President Trump would sign it in June. Yet his firm’s head of research estimated the odds of passage this year at about 50%.
Banks are also applying pressure. The American Bankers Association requested more than 60 additional days to comment on GENIUS Act implementation rules. White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt criticized continued bank lobbying on X, saying it is difficult to interpret the activity as anything “other than greed or ignorance.”
With ethical questions tied to the president’s token, unresolved policy details and competing lobbying forces, the CLARITY Act faces a narrow and uncertain path to passage — and the fate of the legislation could hinge on whether negotiators can bridge these political and practical divides before Senate time runs out.