Maxine Waters urges Congress to delay crypto laws amid presidential profits

Rep. Maxine Waters wants Congress to pump the brakes on crypto legislation, and her reasoning is straightforward: don’t write the rules of a game while the referee is placing bets on the outcome.

The California Democrat and ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee has been escalating her campaign against major crypto bills, arguing that advancing regulatory frameworks without conflict-of-interest protections effectively gives a green light to self-dealing at the highest levels of government.

The money trail Waters keeps pointing to

At the center of Waters’s objections is a simple math problem. The Trump family’s crypto ventures have reportedly generated roughly $1.2 billion in increased net worth. That figure includes a notable $2 billion investment connected to a Trump-linked stablecoin.

Waters argues that passing crypto-friendly legislation under these circumstances would, in her words, condone ill-gotten gains.

Legislative casualties pile up

Waters hasn’t just been giving speeches. She’s been systematically working to block or amend every major piece of crypto legislation that crosses her desk.

The GENIUS Act, a stablecoin-focused bill, drew her ire for lacking what she considers adequate conflict-of-interest provisions. The CLARITY Act, which would establish clearer definitions for digital asset classification, met a similar fate. On September 15-16, the Senate voted 49-50 against advancing the CLARITY Act, falling along party lines.

In the House Financial Services Committee’s markup of the American Reserve Modernization Act, Waters introduced amendments aimed at addressing her conflict-of-interest concerns. They failed 21-28, again on a party-line vote.

Waters also introduced the STOP TRUMP and CRYPTO Act, a bill designed to prohibit top federal officials from engaging in crypto-related businesses.

On June 25, she submitted an 11-page letter to the Department of Labor urging them to withdraw a proposal that would allow 401(k) retirement plans to offer digital assets. Her argument cited prior investor losses tied to cryptocurrency, framing the proposal as exposing ordinary workers’ retirement savings to an asset class that hasn’t proven itself safe enough for that purpose.

A partisan standoff with real market consequences

The 49-50 Senate vote on the CLARITY Act illustrates just how razor-thin the margins are. A single vote separated the bill from advancing, and the party-line nature of the split suggests this isn’t a debate that’s going to resolve through compromise anytime soon.

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