Update (July 30, 11:25 pm UTC): This article has been updated to include a statement from the White House.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has introduced legislation to establish a new US government agency dedicated to combating federal corruption, citing President Donald Trump's earnings from "various, and extremely lucrative, cryptocurrency ventures."

Schumer announced the Anti-Corruption Bureau Creation Act in a Thursday notice, stating that the proposed bureau would have the authority to "investigate, enforce, and prevent executive branch corruption." According to the bill text, Congress found that Trump had disclosed earning more than $2 billion from investments in 2025, including $1.4 billion tied to cryptocurrency. The findings also noted that the president's family held more than $1 billion in a crypto fund connected to foreign governments.

Speaking at a Public Citizen forum outlining the legislation, Schumer described the proposed agency as having "real teeth" with enforcement authority. The bureau would consist of a bipartisan group of seven members subject to Senate confirmation. The bill also includes mechanisms allowing private citizens and state authorities to recover funds Schumer said had been stolen from Americans "through corruption."

"This new bureau is one where these institutions work in symbiosis, strengthening each other and eliminating barriers between them which often got in the way," Schumer said. "It replaces a broken patchwork of watchdogs, none of which were built for this moment, with one, powerful anti-corruption agency, ready to act anywhere, anytime corruption strikes."

The proposed agency would consolidate the US Federal Election Commission, the Office of Government Ethics, and the Office of Special Counsel "under one roof" within the new bureau. Senators Andy Kim, Alex Padilla, and Jeff Merkley cosponsored the legislation.

In a statement to Cointelegraph, White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly reiterated the administration's position that there were "no conflicts of interest" with Trump's investments, which she said were "held in fully discretionary accounts managed by independent third-party financial institutions."

Trump's connections to the cryptocurrency industry have been a sticking point for many Democrats in Congress as they weigh support for the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act, a comprehensive market structure bill that would establish a framework dividing regulatory authority over digital assets between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Although the White House agreed to certain ethics provisions in the bill, many lawmakers argue the measures do not go far enough to address the president's potential conflicts of interest.

The bill's introduction coincided with a public forum held by Senators Richard Blumenthal and Chris Van Hollen to address Trump's ties to the crypto industry.

Passing the legislation would require Republican support in both the US House of Representatives and the Senate, where the party holds a slim majority. The bill, introduced by Democratic leadership without announced Republican cosponsors, serves primarily as a marker of the party's anti-corruption priorities heading into the 2026 cycle. Even if the bill advanced in both chambers before 2028, Trump could veto the legislation, sending it back to Congress, where a two-thirds majority would be needed to override the president's action.

CLARITY Act Still Under Senate Consideration

The US Senate has just over a week remaining before lawmakers break for a month-long state work period, leaving many scrambling to pass legislation before the 2026 US midterms potentially complicate discussions upon their return. For the crypto industry, the CLARITY Act represents foundational legislation that companies and market participants have said is needed to operate with regulatory certainty in the United States.

"The big question at this very minute is where the CLARITY Act stands," said former US Securities and Exchange Commission official John Reed Stark following his appearance at Blumenthal's and Van Hollen's Monday forum. "Of all the experts and political insiders I spoke with yesterday, not one could say for sure what happens this week with the CLARITY Act. There is enormous drama surrounding this legislation."

As of Thursday, the Senate had not scheduled a vote on the bill, despite urging from Republican lawmakers and industry leaders. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said on Wednesday that the bill was at the "one-yard line," and Senator Cynthia Lummis, who has long advocated for the market structure legislation, continued to push for a vote.