When Your President Has a $620 Million Crypto Portfolio

Here's the problem facing crypto regulation in Washington: How do you write rules for an industry when the sitting president has roughly $620 million worth of skin in the game?

Democrats want language in the crypto market structure bill that would bar senior government officials and their families—yes, including President Donald Trump—from owning or operating crypto businesses. According to Bloomberg's estimates, Trump has generated about $620 million from various crypto ventures connected to his family.

The portfolio is extensive. There's World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a DeFi and stablecoin project that lists Trump and his three sons as co-founders. The family holds a stake in bitcoin mining company American Bitcoin (ABTC). And then there are the TRUMP and MELANIA meme coins, which launched conveniently just before Trump took office.

TD Cowen's Jaret Seiberg described the Democratic proposal as a "nonstarter" for Trump unless the effective date gets pushed years into the future.

The Three-Year Workaround Nobody Wants

"One potential way to overcome Trump's objections is to make the conflict of interest provision effective three years after enactment," Seiberg wrote in a note on Monday.

"This pushes it past the next inauguration, which means it would never apply to Trump. We do not believe Democrats would accept this deal unless it also pushed the rest of the bill out three years," he added.

So there's your compromise: delay everything. Bill passes in 2027, takes effect in 2029. By then, Trump would be out of office regardless of whether he wins reelection in 2028.

Senate Math Favors the Patient

Republicans control the Senate, but they need 60 votes to overcome a filibuster. That means securing backing from at least 7-9 Democrats even if every Republican votes yes.

This dynamic hands Democrats considerable leverage to slow-walk negotiations until after the 2026 midterms. Why rush if you might flip the House in November? A delayed enactment date would push implementation past the 2028 presidential inauguration, letting Democratic regulators shape the final rules if their party reclaims the White House.

"Time favors enactment as the problems disappear if the bill passes in 2027 and takes effect in 2029," Seiberg noted.

What's Actually at Stake

The crypto market structure legislation would establish a clear framework for digital asset regulation in the United States, covering agency oversight and how different assets get classified.

The House passed its version last year, but Senate momentum has stalled. Senator Bernie Moreno (R-MI) called the negotiations "decently frustrating," emphasizing that "no deal is better than a bad deal."

Senate Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott (R-SC) announced "real progress" in recent months, though policy experts give the bill only a 50-60% chance of passing in 2026.

Here's the twist: The crypto industry actually wants the law to take effect under Trump and doesn't particularly care about conflict-of-interest provisions. That mismatch between what the industry wants and what Democrats are demanding is exactly why the politics remain so complicated.