We are fighting back to stop them from buying carve outs for industry insiders at the public’s expense.
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So-called Ethics Provision in the CLARITY Act Fails to Prohibit Corruption
By Patrick Woodall, Managing Director for Policy
The long-promised ethics provisions in the CLARITY Act crypto legislation are a fig leaf that don’t cover Trump’s unprecedented crypto corruption or the rampant efforts by crypto billionaires to leverage their power and money to secure favorable legislation.
Senate Republicans unveiled new ethics language that doesn’t pass the laugh test. It fails to cover any of the existing Trump family’s crypto enterprises, excludes his sons who operate the family crypto firms, and allows carve outs that enable Trump-branded crypto to continue to generate profits for Trump.
These weak provisions even expire with Trump’s term in office and prohibit Congress from ever reissuing similar crypto ethics laws (meaning the bill lets crypto billionaires use the same corrupt playbook to try to influence future presidents). The end result is that Trump would never face the music for his family’s multi-billion dollar crypto grift.
Fleeced investors generate Trump’s crypto profits
Trump’s crypto ripoff is eye-popping. Nearly a million people lost $3.8 billion on Trump-branded memecoins. Reuters reported that the Trump family crypto empire raked in $2.3 billion in profits while investors in their sprawling crypto businesses lost $2.3 billion since Trump ran for office in 2024. There is no perfect accounting of the Trump crypto profits, but Forbes reports his net worth reached $6.5 billion in 2026—nearly triple the $2.3 billion he was worth in 2024 before he took office— “largely by cashing in on crypto.”
It’s more than just the Trump family coffers. It’s about eroding democracy through crypto spending
Crypto billionaires and their firms are using their money, power, and access to curry favors and favorable treatment from the Trump administration. High-profile crypto investors plowed $148 million into Trump’s memecoin to win a contest to attend a Trump banquet. The Trump administration has dropped crypto enforcement cases and pardoned crypto criminals with ties to the Trump crypto businesses. A member of the royal family of the United Arab Emirates directed a $500 million investment into the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial crypto firm, raising ethical and national security concerns.
And it’s preposterous to think that the Trump regulators and law enforcement agencies will enforce any rules against the Trump family crypto businesses—or any crypto firm that does business with the Trump crypto empire. Trump has appointed crypto industry insiders to key positions of power who are rolling back protections, leveraging special treatment, and giving a green light to crypto predation. The CLARITY Act is a giveaway to the industry that will harm crypto investors and everyone else—even if they don’t buy crypto.
CLARITY enriches the crypto billionaires pushing anti-democratic ideas
The crypto billionaires that have plowed money into right-wing causes and Trump vanity projects are pushing the CLARITY Act because it will make them even richer. The vast majority of U.S. voters worry about crypto’s political power—including three-quarters of Republicans and independents—and crypto’s attempt to craft legislation that is a giveaway to the industry. Many of the biggest crypto billionaires—and biggest beneficiaries of the CLARITY Act—are oligarchs pushing authoritarian ideas and supporting Trump’s efforts to undermine U.S. democratic ideals.
Updates
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Press Release: Crypto, Big Tech, and Wall Street are Spending Gushers of Campaign Cash on the Midterm Elections
A new analysis from Americans for Financial Reform, “Big Tech, Crypto, and Wall Street Money is Flooding the Midterm Elections,” revealed that between January 1, 2025 and July 28, 2026, eight cryptocurrency and Artificial Intelligence (AI) PACs spent over $100 million on the midterm elections.
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Letters to Congress: Coalition Opposes AI Sandbox in Crypto Bill
The undersigned 78 civil rights, labor, consumer, community, tech accountability, and other organizations write to express opposition to the inclusion of language authorizing so-called AI Innovation Labs within the CLARITY Act. This language creates regulatory sandboxes that allow otherwise regulated financial firms to deploy artificial intelligence (AI) systems without regulatory supervision, oversight, or enforcement and…
AFR in the News
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Bloomberg Government: Some Democrats Fear Crypto Talks Undercut Messaging on Trump
Mark Hays, associate director for crypto and financial technology at the Americans for Financial Reform advocacy group, said the real test for Democrats and their messaging will be where they eventually land on the bill.
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Boston Globe: The AI bubble could burst — and take the economy with it
Maya Jenkins is a senior policy analyst with Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund. They are authors of a forthcoming report on the potential economic and policy consequences of the AI bubble bursting.
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The Intercept: Trump’s Crypto Corruption Puts Centrist Democrats in Bind
No matter what’s in the legislation, the bill is meaningless if it leaves enforcement to Trump’s own administration, said Mark Hays, the associate director for cryptocurrency and financial technology at Americans for Financial Reform and Demand Progress.
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