Trump Urges Senate to Pass “Fair Version” of CLARITY Act at White House Crypto Summit

President Donald Trump publicly pressed Congress to pass a “fair version” of the CLARITY Act during a White House gathering with crypto and finance executives on Wednesday, framing the market-structure bill as needed to keep the United States ahead of China.

Standing alongside CFTC Chair Michael Selig, SEC Chair Paul Atkins, and White House crypto advisor Patrick Witt, Trump told a room of industry leaders that the legislation “will keep us ahead of China, keep us ahead of everyone else.” The bill would establish federal rules for digital assets and draw a clearer line between SEC and CFTC jurisdiction.

That line matters. It determines whether a token is a security or a commodity. It decides which agency polices it.

“Now we need Congress to take the next step by passing the Clarity Act, a fair version of the Clarity Act,” Trump said. He called it “very, very powerful structure legislation” and said the bill would “open the door to the next wave of innovations and innovators.”

The meeting assembled a cross-section of the industry. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev, Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman, Kraken co-CEO Arjun Sethi, Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov, and Gemini co-founders Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss were among those in attendance. It was held ahead of the CFTC’s inaugural Innovation Advisory Committee session on Thursday.

Armstrong said the bill would make US crypto policy “durable into the future, so it could survive for decades and decades to come.” He speculated the legislation could command “more than 60 votes” once the Senate addresses a cloture motion on Sept. 15.

Republicans control the Senate. They still need roughly six Democratic votes to clear the 60-vote threshold. The House passed the CLARITY Act in July 2025. The bill stalled in the Senate amid concerns over tokenized equities, stablecoin rewards, and potential conflicts of interest tied to the Trump family’s crypto holdings.

Trump insisted the bill has cross-aisle appeal. “It’s very bipartisan, I would say,” he said. “Lot of Democrats support.”

Senator Ruben Gallego, an Arizona Democrat, disagreed. Speaking at the Wyoming Blockchain Symposium, Gallego took issue with Trump’s call for a “fair version.” “I think, unfortunately, what the president means is fair to him,” Gallego said, referring to ethics language in the bill. “The president is agreeing to some limitation. It’s not his place to agree. It’s the place of the Congress, the Senate and then the White House.”

The Senate has not voted on the bill since it left for August recess without holding a procedural vote. That part is new.

Trump also used the event to single out a decentralized trading platform. He said CFTC Chair Mike Selig is working to bring Hyperliquid, a decentralized perpetual futures exchange, into the United States. “I understand that Mike is also working to bring Hyperliquid into the United States in a fully compliant and legal fashion,” Trump said. “Working very hard on that. We would really like to see it.”

Whether Hyperliquid has formally applied for any CFTC regulatory pathway was not stated. A compliant on-ramp for a decentralized perpetuals platform would be a first for the agency.

The broader regulatory backdrop keeps shifting. The SEC on Tuesday proposed rules that would offer companies a safe harbor from tokens being treated as “investment contracts” and certain exemptions for token issuance. The CFTC’s Innovation Advisory Committee, meeting the day after the White House event, was set to explore moving forward on crypto regulations while Congress remains in recess for another month.

Trump criticized the prior administration’s approach. He accused it of using regulation and enforcement to drive businesses overseas through what he called “Operation Chokepoint 2.0.” He pointed to his administration’s strategic Bitcoin reserve, digital asset stockpile, ban on a US central bank digital currency, and the GENIUS Act as policies adopted since he returned to office.

He also invoked the late Senator Lindsey Graham, who died in July. Trump said Graham had been a “big supporter” of the bill and urged lawmakers to advance it in his honor.

Prediction-market platforms Kalshi and Polymarket were not invited. A person familiar with the event told Politico the White House decided to focus the meeting solely on crypto.

Whether the Senate actually holds the Sept. 15 cloture vote, and whether the six Democratic votes materialize, remains the open question. Gallego, for one, was blunt about the path ahead: “The president doesn’t just get to decide what level of regulation he gets.”