President Donald Trump’s negotiators for the U.S. Senate Cryptocurrency Market Structure Bill have refused to sign legislation that directly targets the president’s digital asset business relationships — one of the main points Democrats are demanding in negotiations over how to govern the U.S. industry.
Patrick Witt, executive director of the President’s Digital Asset Advisory Council, said in an interview with CoinDesk TV at the Ondo Summit in New York on Tuesday that some of the early proposals for ethics provisions in the bill, especially one proposed by California Senator Adan Schiff, were “completely outrageous.”
“We have made it clear that there are red lines,” he said. “We will not allow the president or his family to be targeted personally.”
He said he hopes Democrats can come up with a more reasonable version that “feels closer to an agreement that can ultimately be reached.” He said he thought a solution would be found.
“But at the end of the day, this is not a ethics bill,” he said.
On Monday, Vitter chaired a meeting of cryptocurrency policy experts and U.S. banking industry representatives, with digital asset insiders expressing frustration that bankers have yet to come up with a solution to the disagreement over stablecoin yields.
He told CoinDesk that the meeting “exposed some new protocol areas,” but that the White House is trying to build bridges between bankers worried about protecting their depository operations and those clearing the way for stablecoin products.
“We’re trying to get a deal done,” he said. “My first job is to get this bill to the president’s desk. He wants to see this bill completed.”
But Senate Democrats are likely to make a tougher pitch at this stage as they continue to push for cryptocurrency restrictions on top government officials, among other significant requirements.
“Many senators’ wives and husbands would have lost their jobs” under previous proposals to limit the industry participation of spouses of government officials, Witt said.
Democrats met with industry representatives on Jan. 16, two days after a Senate Banking Committee hearing to advance the legislation failed. Democratic lawmakers plan to meet again Wednesday to continue discussing their approach, according to a person familiar with the plans. If they can’t accept the compromise bill in the Senate Banking Committee, the legislation may only advance with Republican support, as the Senate Agriculture Committee already has a similar version.
Ultimately, though, the legislation must have strong Democratic support to pass the Senate, which typically requires a 60-vote majority to approve a bill. The White House has given industry insiders until the end of February to put together their compromise ideas, according to people familiar with the matter. The longer the legislative process drags on, the harder it will be to pass legislation before Congress heads out for this year’s midterm elections.
On Tuesday, Witt was also asked if he would be willing to determine how much cryptocurrency the U.S. government currently holds, a particularly relevant number given that the president is planning to establish a federal reserve.
“No,” he said. “I’m not going to discuss that.”
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