Anthony Scaramucci, who founded SkyBridge Capital, attributed the stall of the CLARITY Act to US President Donald Trump’s cryptocurrency business ventures and memecoin creations, asserting that they drove away crucial Democratic backing.
During a conversation with Cointelegraph at SALT London, Scaramucci explained that the introduction of memecoins right before Trump’s January 2025 swearing-in sabotaged the bipartisan momentum that had built up for digital asset rules following the 2024 elections.
When questioned if the memecoin projects were the exclusive cause for the bill’s defeat, Scaramucci replied to Cointelegraph, stating it was the “singular reason.” He mentioned that Democrats who had grown more open to digital currency oversight rescinded their backing subsequent to those releases.
These comments arrive in the wake of the Senate’s failure to advance the CLARITY Act on September 15, when a procedural vote secured 49 supporters and 50 opponents, missing the 60-vote threshold needed. The legislation aimed to set up a national oversight framework for virtual currencies, yet it encountered disputes regarding ethics clauses that would limit government officials from holding crypto assets.
Scaramucci says both sides share responsibility
Scaramucci likewise highlighted arguments surrounding proposed ethics limitations, noting that legislators wanted more stringent requirements that the White House rejected.
“I think it’s the business interests, the memecoins,” Scaramucci stated, noting further that politicians were “trying to put real teeth into the ethics provision” while the executive branch refused to approve it.
“There’s culpability on both sides for that deal not going forward,” he added.
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Back in July, a group of five Democratic senators urged investigations regarding Trump’s cryptocurrency assets and potential conflicts of interest, pointing to worries that his economic ties could sway digital asset policy. Representative French Hill, who chairs the House Financial Services Committee, also admitted that Trump’s cryptocurrency enterprises had complicated attempts to enact laws.
During August, the advocacy organization Public Citizen calculated that buyers suffered a minimum of $4.7 billion in mostly paper losses across projects tied to Trump, which featured $3.2 billion linked to the Official Trump (TRUMP) digital token. The organization reported that Trump collected $635 million through token licensing payments throughout 2025, referencing his financial disclosures.
Even with this legislative hurdle, Scaramucci noted that the SEC’s strategy under Chair Paul Atkins might propel tokenization toward “escape velocity,” achieving enough usage to ensure a future SEC leader cannot easily halt or hinder the sector.
He noted that it remains premature to determine whether usage will hit that threshold prior to the upcoming presidential term.
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Originally published at https://cointelegraph.com/news/scaramucci-trump-memecoins-clarity-act-failure?utm_source=rss_feed&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss_partner_inbound.
