Trump Presses Congress to Pass a ‘Fair Version’ of the Clarity Act at White House Crypto Meeting

Flanked by the CEOs of Coinbase, Ripple, Robinhood and Nasdaq, Trump urged Congress to finish market structure legislation that still lacks the Democratic votes to pass.

President Donald Trump called on Congress to pass the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act at a White House event Wednesday with crypto and technology executives, saying lawmakers needed to “take the next step” on crypto market structure. He asked specifically for a “fair version” of the bill, a phrase that points directly at the language fight keeping it stalled in the Senate.

Trump cast the legislation as a competitive weapon, saying it would keep the country “ahead of China” and “open the door to the next wave of innovations.” He criticized the previous administration’s enforcement posture and pointed to his own record: the strategic bitcoin reserve, the digital asset stockpile, the ban on a U.S. central bank digital currency, and the GENIUS Act. Attendees included Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev, Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman, ICE CEO Jeffrey Sprecher, Kraken’s Arjun Sethi, Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov, Blockchain.com CEO Peter Smith, Gemini co-founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, and a16z crypto founder Chris Dixon. SEC Chair Paul Atkins, CFTC Chair Michael Selig, and White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt also joined.

This story is an excerpt from the Unchained Daily newsletter.

The Clarity Act needs 60 votes in the Senate, Republicans are short by roughly seven Democrats, and the bill returns to the floor in September after the chamber broke for August recess without holding a procedural vote. Democratic negotiators want ethics limits covering the president’s crypto businesses, which is the same fight that has stalled the bill for months.

Armstrong made the industry’s case in the room, describing the bill as “a bipartisan compromise” and arguing it would make the administration’s progress durable for decades. Atkins tied the SEC’s own crypto proposal this week to the same objective, saying the agency’s rule would give entrepreneurs certainty to raise capital in the U.S. and that sending Clarity to the president’s desk remains the priority.

The gathering preceded the first meeting of the CFTC’s Innovation Advisory Committee on Thursday, whose roster includes executives from Kraken, Anchorage Digital, Grayscale and OKX. Prediction market operators including Kalshi and Polymarket were not invited to the White House event, with Politico reporting the administration chose to keep the focus on crypto.

Related Listen: Kristin Smith on Why the Clarity Act Comes Down to a Memecoin