Selig Blames Democrats for Crypto Bill Delay — the Real Holdup Is Trump's Own Crypto

"We've been sending offers over and over again to the White House, and they've been coming back either blank," Gallego said, adding that reaching the 60 votes needed to pass the bill requires "good ethics legislation."

The Senate has since pushed its vote on the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act to September. Gallego has said the bill's chances aren't dead, they depend on resolving exactly the provision the White House has stayed quiet on. Trump himself agreed in principle to support an ethics provision back in July. The actual language was never shared with Democrats, which is why Gallego says the offers keep coming back empty a month later.

Selig also used the meeting to escalate a separate jurisdictional fight with New York Attorney General Letitia James over prediction markets, calling her "rogue." New York is suing Kalshi for $36 billion in damages, alleging the platform let 18- and 19-year-olds trade sports contracts in violation of the state's betting age limit. That dispute, over whether states can regulate platforms the CFTC already oversees, is playing out in court and is separate from the CLARITY standoff.

Selig is not the only regulator making this threat. SEC Chair Paul Atkins told the industry in November that his agency, too, would issue its own crypto rules under a framework he calls Project Crypto if Congress does not act. Two agency heads making an identical threat, months apart, suggests more than coincidence. Both the CFTC and the SEC appear ready to use the legislative delay, whatever its actual cause, to expand their own authority over crypto markets rather than wait on a bill that depends on the White House resolving its own conflict of interest.

The Senate is not expected to vote on CLARITY before September. Whether Selig or Atkins follow through on either threat will not be tested until the fall. Both are on record saying they will act regardless of what Congress does.