Trump Pushes Clarity Act at White House Crypto Meeting

President Donald Trump called on Congress to pass a "fair version" of the Clarity Act at a White House meeting with crypto and finance executives Wednesday, telling the group that market structure legislation is the next step in his administration's digital asset agenda.

Trump's comments come a day before the Commodity Futures Trading Commission's Innovation Advisory Committee holds its inaugural meeting Thursday. CFTC Chair Michael Selig, Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Paul Atkins, and White House crypto advisor Patrick Witt joined Trump at the Wednesday gathering.

"Now we need Congress to take the next step by passing the Clarity Act, a fair version of the Clarity Act," Trump said. "It's a very, very powerful structure legislation which will keep us ahead of China, keep us ahead of everyone else."

The Clarity Act, a sweeping crypto market structure bill that would establish federal rules for digital assets and clarify the SEC and CFTC's respective authority over the industry, is expected to return to the Senate floor in September after lawmakers left for their August recess without holding a procedural vote. Republicans still need roughly six Democratic votes to reach the 60-vote threshold.

Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev, Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman, and Intercontinental Exchange CEO Jeff Sprecher were among the attendees. Also present were Kraken co-CEO 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.

"The people in this room are ensuring that the future of commercial markets is pioneered and perfected right here in the USA," Trump said. "We're fighting a lot of other countries to control these markets, and to have these markets, and to profit, and all the jobs and everything else created. And we're doing well. We're leading in every aspect, including AI, and we're leading by a lot. And we want to keep it that way."

Trump said clearer regulation was necessary to keep crypto companies and fintech development in the U.S. He criticized the Biden administration's approach to crypto, accusing it of using regulation and enforcement to drive businesses overseas in Operation Chokepoint 2.0. He pointed to his administration's strategic bitcoin reserve, digital asset stockpile, ban on a U.S. central bank digital currency, and the GENIUS Act as policies already adopted since he took office.

Trump also said Selig is working to bring decentralized perpetual futures exchange Hyperliquid into the U.S. in a fully compliant manner.

"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."

The White House meeting comes as regulators move ahead with crypto policy while broader market structure legislation stalls in Congress. The SEC on Tuesday proposed rules that would exempt certain token offerings from securities regulations, potentially making it easier for crypto companies to issue tokens and raise capital. The proposal is open for public comment before any final adoption.

While Trump mentioned prediction markets, executives from platforms including Kalshi and Polymarket were not invited. A person familiar with the event told Politico that the White House decided to focus the meeting solely on crypto.

Intercontinental Exchange, whose CEO attended the meeting, operates the New York Stock Exchange and has been exploring digital asset infrastructure. The company's stock page is available here. For broader context on crypto market developments, see AlphaScala's crypto market analysis.