Republicans Post Final CLARITY Act Text With Trump-Backed Ethics Terms a Day Before Cloture Vote

Senate Republicans published what they called the final draft of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act on Monday, a day before the scheduled vote on whether to take up the bill. Senators Cynthia Lummis, John Boozman and Tim Scott led the release and said the ethics restrictions in the text reflect terms President Trump accepted. The package has not won Democratic endorsement, and cloture on the motion to proceed requires 60 votes under a unanimous-consent agreement tied to the Senate calendar.

The updated ethics division removes a sunset that in July would have ended the ban at noon on Jan. 20, 2029. It also reverses the earlier bar on state attorney general enforcement and increases civil penalties: the draft replaces a 10% or $500,000 (whichever was less) formula with 20% or $500,000 (whichever is greater), both subject to inflation adjustments. The release says the new ethics language reflects "substantially all of the Tillis-Gallego ethics proposal," and Lummis characterized the restrictions as unprecedented in scope for federally elected officials, judges and their spouses.

Ownership and disclosure tests were tightened. The July measure targeted a "direct interest" such as holding a digital asset or owning 20% or more of an entity deriving over half its revenue from issuing or sponsoring digital assets; the final text establishes a separate prohibition on maintaining a "significant financial interest," defined as $15,000 or more in equity in an entity that earned a plurality of its revenue from issuing or sponsoring digital assets in any of the prior three calendar years. Covered holders must divest or place assets in a qualified blind trust by the division’s effective date and notify their supervising ethics office within three days; the office then posts the notice publicly three days later. A July carve-out allowing continued use of an official’s name, image or likeness by an issuer after divestiture does not appear in the final draft.

The revised bill also spells out how states may pursue alleged violations. A state attorney general can bring an action "against the Attorney General" of the United States seeking injunctive relief rather than suing the official who issued the token; states may sue intermediaries directly and recover penalties up to $250,000 per violation per day. However, two carve-outs limit state suits: no action may proceed if a supervising ethics office issues a legal opinion that the activity is not prohibited, and no suit may be brought once that office publishes the divestiture or blind-trust notice. Plaintiffs must show harm, including financial harm above $100. The draft sets the division’s effective date as the earlier of 360 days after enactment or 60 days after the SEC issues a final rule under Section 10102(b); prohibitions apply only to assets issued or sponsored on or after that date, leaving already-launched tokens outside the new bans.