Trump urges Senate CLARITY Act passage as Bitcoin tops $68,000

President Donald Trump urged the Senate to pass the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act at a White House meeting with crypto executives, saying the market-structure bill could clear the chamber with more than 60 votes.

"This would make all of the progress that this administration has made durable into the future, so it could survive for decades and decades to come," Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said, predicting the bill could draw "more than 60 votes" once the Senate addresses a cloture motion on Sept. 18.

The bill passed the House in July 2025 but has stalled in the Senate over concerns about tokenized equities, stablecoin rewards and the Trump family's potential conflicts of interest with the industry. Polymarket odds for 2026 passage have slipped to around 20 percent. Trump hosted the event a day before the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's 35-member Innovation Advisory Committee holds its inaugural session, with executives from Coinbase, a16z, Ripple, Chainlink and Kalshi on the roster.

The push comes as the Securities and Exchange Commission proposed crypto rules offering companies a safe harbor from tokens being treated as "investment contracts," and as the Treasury proposed its approach to stablecoins under the GENIUS Act. Trump also teased additional purchases for the US Bitcoin strategic reserve, which ARK Invest founder Cathie Wood said the government may begin to fund after relying on confiscated assets.

A 'Fair Version' Faces a September Test

The Senate has a final window next month before a recess that runs through the November elections. Trump said lawmakers should pass "a fair version" of the bill to keep the US "ahead of China," and pointed to the late Senator Lindsey Graham, whom he called a "big supporter" of the legislation. Democratic negotiators have sought to attach ethics limits on Trump's crypto involvement, a provision that would also constrain the personal business ties of senior officials across all three branches of government.

Agency Action Moves Ahead of Congress

SEC Chairman Paul Atkins said the agency's new crypto proposal is tied to the need for legal permanence that Clarity would provide. "Our proposal, the crypto assets rule, would provide crypto entrepreneurs like those here in this room and job creators the certainty to raise capital in the United States using digital assets," Atkins said. The CFTC's Innovation Advisory Committee, which also includes Kraken, Anchorage Digital, Grayscale and OKX alongside prediction-market and AI companies, meets Thursday from 1-4 p.m. ET.

Bitcoin traded near $68,000 as of 16:00 UTC, up about 6 percent over 24 hours, after the White House event and Treasury buyback plans boosted risk appetite. Trump's tease of additional reserve purchases reinforced the strategic reserve narrative, with Wood arguing the government "will start buying" after relying on seized assets. The reserve, established by executive order in March 2025, holds forfeited bitcoin and has yet to make a purchase.

This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.