Trump Accepts Ethics Curbs to Push Crypto Bill Through Senate

President Donald Trump has agreed to a series of ethics provisions in a sweeping Senate cryptocurrency bill, conceding to conflict-of-interest restrictions that would apply to him and his wife, as lawmakers prepare for a pivotal vote on Tuesday.

The bill's lead author, Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., and Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, met Trump at the White House in mid-July and told him he would need to accept conflict-of-interest limits to win support from key Democrats. According to two people with knowledge of the private discussion, the president agreed with little resistance.

The language they presented would bar federally elected officials and their spouses, along with federal judges, from issuing digital assets. That would prevent Trump from sponsoring the type of meme coin he launched before his second inauguration, and would likewise cover first lady Melania Trump, who has her own token.

A further proposal from Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., and Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., went beyond that. It would require the president to place his crypto holdings in a blind trust and divest once they reach a certain value, and would empower state attorneys general to enforce the law alongside the Justice Department. Democrats had made that enforcement role a red line, arguing they could not rely on a Trump-appointed attorney general to act against the president.

White House officials had privately raised concerns that giving state attorneys general enforcement power could turn the law into a political weapon, usable by Democratic state lawyers against the president and other Republicans, and by Republican attorneys general against elected Democrats.

Still, Trump accepted language giving state attorneys general what a Sunday night statement from Lummis and Sens. John Boozman, R-Ark., and Tim Scott, R-S.C., described as a meaningful enforcement role. A senior GOP aide said the president had agreed to roughly 80 percent of the Tillis-Gallego proposal, pointing mainly to that provision. An updated version of the bill released Sunday also requires divestment or a blind trust for any significant financial interest in an entity that issues cryptocurrencies.

Gallego and Tillis did not immediately comment. Trump was persuaded in part by repeated conversations about the importance of passing the measure, including with industry officials, the aide said.

Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., among the Democrats seen as swing votes, said state attorneys general must be able to prosecute when the Justice Department declines. "I have been very clear about the fact that I will not vote for any legislation that does not cover ethics," she said.

Trump has accumulated substantial crypto wealth while in office, complicating the legislation. He reported more than $500 million in revenue from sales of crypto products, including governance tokens, by World Liberty Financial, the venture his sons launched in 2024. That formed a large share of the more than $1.4 billion he reported from crypto businesses last year, a figure that also included more than $600 million from souvenir-style meme coins bearing his face, sold through CIC Digital LLC.

Presidents have generally been exempt from federal conflict-of-interest laws, though some modern presidents voluntarily placed assets in blind trusts. Cabinet officials covered by those laws can recuse themselves or divest to address specific issues, an option seen as far harder for a president overseeing the entire government. A stablecoin law enacted last year barred members of Congress and their families from profiting off such tokens but did not extend to Trump or his family.

Lisa Gilbert, co-president of the watchdog group Public Citizen, said conflict-of-interest rules seldom apply to presidents because of their whole-of-government responsibilities, but argued that the scale of the current administration's conflicts calls for a different standard. The White House has said the president stays out of family business decisions run by his sons.

During his first term, Trump said he was "not a fan" of cryptocurrency, calling it highly volatile and based on thin air. He has since become a convert, drawn by his sons' interest in the business and by crypto's appeal to Black and younger voters who could matter in close campaigns. Last May he hosted top investors in his $TRUMP meme coin for dinner at his northern Virginia golf club, an event the White House said he attended in his personal time.

Tuesday's vote could prove a watershed for the $2.3 trillion crypto market, determining whether Washington writes digital asset legitimacy into law or whether a frustrated, deep-pocketed industry pours even more campaign cash into the midterm elections. Lummis framed the choice bluntly, saying a vote against the bill is not a principled stand against the president but a vote against imposing tough restrictions on politicians' crypto investments.