Trump Presses Senate on CLARITY Act and Floats Larger Bitcoin Holdings at White House Crypto Summit
Key Takeaways
- •Trump urged Congress to pass a revised CLARITY Act and said the U.S. needs a permanent crypto market structure to compete with financial centers such as China.
- •The CLARITY Act faces a September 15 Senate cloture vote and still needs 60 votes to advance.
- •Trump said the administration has discussed acquiring a sizable amount of Bitcoin and would consider proposals to expand federal holdings.
- •The SEC recently proposed Regulation Crypto Assets, which would create new fundraising exemptions and a conditional safe harbor for some crypto investment contracts.
- •Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev called for wider U.S. access to tokenized equities as traditional exchanges and crypto companies met together at the White House.
President Donald Trump convened executives from Coinbase, Kraken, Ripple, Robinhood, Nasdaq and Intercontinental Exchange, along with other crypto and finance leaders, at the White House on Wednesday, placing the stalled CLARITY Act, Bitcoin reserves and the expansion of regulated digital asset markets at the center of the administration's agenda (Reuters).
Trump called on Congress to pass a "fair version" of the CLARITY Act, arguing that the United States needs a permanent market structure framework to stay ahead of competing financial centers, including China. The legislation faces a September 15 Senate procedural vote and still needs 60 votes to advance.
Trump Presses the Senate and Opens the Door to More Bitcoin
The White House push follows a summer in which the CLARITY Act's Senate path narrowed considerably. CryptoAdventure previously tracked the bill as it approached its 60-vote Senate test with disputes over ethics, stablecoin rewards and DeFi protections still unresolved, underscoring how much of the fight now centers on how the market would be supervised rather than whether lawmakers support the sector at all.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong used the meeting to press lawmakers to finish the legislation, with banking-industry resistance remaining one of the major points of friction. The bill would create a statutory division of crypto oversight between the SEC and the CFTC rather than leaving that framework primarily to agency interpretation, which is why the measure matters to exchanges, brokers and token issuers seeking clearer rules for operating in the U.S.
Trump also said the administration has discussed acquiring a "sizable" amount of Bitcoin and that he would listen to proposals for expanding federal holdings. The U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve already holds government-controlled BTC obtained through forfeitures rather than routine open-market purchases, making any expansion of holdings part of the broader debate over how far federal crypto policy should go beyond enforcement-based accumulation.
The comments landed during a strong crypto session. Bitcoin led the market higher while Ethereum and major altcoins joined the rebound, giving the White House meeting an immediate market backdrop beyond Washington policy.
SEC and CFTC Push Ahead Without Congress
SEC Chairman Paul Atkins arrived one day after the Commission unveiled Regulation Crypto Assets, a sweeping proposal creating new fundraising exemptions and a conditional safe harbor for certain crypto investment contracts. The SEC proposal would provide tailored paths for crypto projects to raise capital while preserving disclosure and antifraud requirements, reflecting how regulators are trying to define access to U.S. capital markets even as Congress debates a broader framework.
The CFTC is moving in parallel. Trump said Chairman Michael Selig is working to bring Hyperliquid into the U.S. through a compliant regulatory pathway, sending HYPE sharply higher after the remarks. CoinDesk recorded an 11% jump following the announcement (CoinDesk).
That marks a significant shift for a platform that has previously faced pressure from traditional derivatives operators. CME and ICE pushed regulators to scrutinize Hyperliquid's commodity-linked markets earlier this year as its 24/7 perpetual markets gained volume, highlighting the competition between established venues and newer crypto-native trading models.
Wall Street Pushes Deeper Into Onchain Markets
Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev used the gathering to press for broader U.S. access to tokenized equities, arguing that American investors should participate directly as blockchain settlement expands across global markets. Nasdaq and NYSE owner Intercontinental Exchange were represented alongside crypto-native companies, bringing the traditional and onchain market structures into the same policy discussion.
The summit now feeds directly into the next Washington deadline. The Senate's September 15 cloture vote will test whether the CLARITY Act can secure the 60 votes required to move forward, while the SEC and CFTC continue building crypto rules under their existing authority.
