President Donald Trump has agreed to incorporate stricter conflict-of-interest provisions into the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, mandating that senior public officials divest or place substantial crypto enterprise holdings into blind trusts, while also granting state attorneys general defined enforcement powers. These measures still need to be integrated into the final legislation and passed by Congress, so they are not yet in effect.

Trump has accepted roughly 80% of the bipartisan ethics package. Republican Senators Cynthia Lummis, Tim Scott, and John Bozeman, who are leading the bill's drafting, indicated that Trump has embraced key elements of the ethics framework pushed by Republican Senator Thom Tillis and Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego. A senior Republican aide stated that Trump approved about 80% of the proposal, with the primary compromise revolving around the enforcement authority for state attorneys general. Gallego and Tillis have not yet confirmed whether they endorse the final text following the announcement. The earlier version only barred federal elected officials, their spouses, and federal judges from issuing or promoting digital assets while in office. Some Democratic senators and Tillis argued that this restriction inadequately addressed conflicts arising from public officials holding stakes in crypto enterprises.

Under the updated plan, covered public officials with "significant" financial interests in digital asset issuers would be required to sell those interests or place them in a blind trust. Public disclosures have not yet fully detailed the threshold for defining "significant interests" or the exact scope of application. The plan also permits state attorneys general to participate in enforcement under certain conditions, including filing lawsuits against exchanges listing digital assets prohibited under the bill. The original draft largely delegated enforcement to the U.S. Department of Justice, with some Democratic lawmakers worried that a presidentially appointed attorney general might not strictly enforce conflict-of-interest rules against the president himself. The bill's drafters describe the new authority as giving state attorneys general a "substantive role" in enforcement, though it remains unclear what specific actions states can take independently and whether such powers remain subject to DOJ decisions.

Trump's crypto holdings have become a focal point of negotiations. Trump and his family operate or participate in several cryptocurrency projects, including World Liberty Financial and memecoins featuring his likeness. According to financial disclosures filed with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, Trump reported approximately $1.4 billion in income from crypto ventures in 2025, with over $500 million stemming from World Liberty Financial's sale of governance tokens and related products. Senator Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, has long pushed for the bill to cover the president, vice president, lawmakers, senior executive officials, and their immediate family members. She contends that if the legislation only restricts officials from issuing new tokens while allowing them to retain or control existing crypto enterprises, it would fail to adequately eliminate conflicts of interest. The White House maintains that Trump does not participate in day-to-day decisions of the family business, which is managed by his sons.

The bill still faces a procedural vote in the Senate. The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act aims to establish a regulatory framework for the U.S. digital asset market, valued at roughly $2.3 trillion, clarifying the jurisdictional boundaries between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and setting registration obligations for digital asset platforms, decentralized finance protocols, and related intermediaries. The revised text released by Lummis on September 10 also requires trading protocols that do not meet decentralization standards to register with the CFTC and comply with the Bank Secrecy Act, further clarifies the applicability of rules to spot digital commodity transactions, and expands the ability of credit unions to engage in digital asset activities. The Senate is scheduled to hold a procedural vote on September 15, requiring 60 votes to advance the bill. The ethics provisions are among the key conditions for securing support from Democratic lawmakers and some Republicans. With Trump's concession, it remains uncertain whether pivotal swing senators will back the legislation.