The bill that was supposed to finally give crypto its regulatory rulebook is stuck. And the reason is not a technical disagreement over blockchain definitions or custody rules. It is a Senator from Maryland drawing a line over presidential profit.
Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) has made his position clear: Democrats should block the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, commonly called the CLARITY Act, until it includes provisions addressing potential conflicts of interest tied to President Donald Trump and his family’s involvement in digital assets.
What happened in committee
On May 14, 2026, the Senate Banking Committee held a markup session on the CLARITY Act. Van Hollen introduced an amendment that would bar senior federal officials from owning or promoting digital asset platforms. The committee rejected it, narrowly, by a 13-to-11 vote.
Van Hollen’s central argument is straightforward: you cannot write the rules for a market while one of the most powerful figures in government is allegedly profiting from that same market. He has pointed specifically to World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture with reported Trump family ties, as well as two memecoins, TRUMP and MELANIA, that generated significant controversy after their launch.
