Trump Hosts Wall Street and Crypto Leaders at the White House, Says CLARITY Act Could Pass Next Month

U.S. President Donald Trump met on Wednesday in the Oval Office with senior figures from crypto and traditional finance, and attendees said he was upbeat about the CLARITY Act. The administration is trying to move the bill through Congress as early as next month. Trump had earlier joined a press event with technology leaders and heads of federal regulatory agencies before inviting some executives into the Oval Office. During that press appearance, he said regulators were studying how Hyperliquid could legally enter the U.S. market and called on Congress to pass what he described as a fair version of the CLARITY Act. Not all attendees were publicly identified, but people who appeared at the earlier press event included Nasdaq CEO Adena Friedman, Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev, Kraken CEO Arjun Sethi, ICE CEO Jeffrey Sprecher, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse. According to people familiar with the meeting, Trump spoke with strong confidence about pushing the legislation forward. Chainlink co-founder Sergey Nazarov described the session as “very productive” and said the discussion centered on the CLARITY Act itself, with Trump seeking industry views on the remaining issues. Nazarov said the group discussed what unresolved points still remain, which senators need to be brought on board, and the strategy after Congress returns from recess. He also said the meeting touched on a U.S. bitcoin strategic reserve, although no specific details were finalized. Trump first floated the idea early in his presidency, saying the reserve could be built from bitcoin obtained by the U.S. government through criminal or civil forfeitures. The CLARITY Act has been moving through the U.S. Senate for the past year. If passed, it would create the first full federal regulatory framework for the crypto industry in the United States. The Senate is currently scheduled to hold its first procedural vote on Sept. 15. The bill has faced repeated obstacles. Points of tension include the dispute between banks and crypto firms over stablecoin yield, as well as anti-money-laundering concerns. Another issue drawing attention is Trump’s growing crypto wealth: the value of World Liberty Financial, a decentralized finance project backed by his family, and the TRUMP memecoin has surged to hundreds of millions of dollars, raising conflict-of-interest concerns in Washington. To address the criticism, Trump agreed in July to an ethics provision barring public officials and their spouses from issuing or promoting digital assets. The measure was originally set to be enforced by the Justice Department and expire in 2029, but Democrats said the language was too weak. Trump is now reviewing a new bipartisan proposal that would give state attorneys general enforcement power. Crypto Council for Innovation CEO Ji Kim said after the meeting that he was optimistic, adding that all sides were making real and sustained efforts to advance the bill. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse wrote on X that the president’s commitment to leading U.S. digital asset innovation was admirable and that the industry’s future was bright.