To ensure permanent economic innovation, we must pass the Clarity Act now
Congress needs 60 Senators willing to put innovation first and provide critical relief to the digital asset industry, argues Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.)
One of my key priorities in Congress has been building an economy that works for all Americans. With a quarter of the city of Detroit, the population center of my district, either unbanked or underbanked, it is clear that the current financial system does not work for many of my constituents. To address these long-standing problems, we should support increased competition and innovative solutions in the financial sector, like blockchain technology.
Blockchain technology is best known for powering cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, but it has a diverse set of uses that can help every person in Metro Detroit and across our country thrive. Most importantly, these innovations can allow more Americans to access the financial system, working to bridge that economic divide once and for all.
While digital assets hold a great deal of promise, the current state of the digital asset sector is plagued by uncertainty and a lack of clear, consistent and easy-to-understand regulations. This makes it difficult for entrepreneurs to create innovative products in the United States. Despite these current challenges, digital assets have continued to grow rapidly, with the United States digital asset market growing at an exponential pace. However, with 90% of all cryptocurrency trading volume occurring offshore, it’s clear that the United States’s lack of a consistent regulatory framework is harming our digital asset industry, and we must do much more in order to encourage innovators and entrepreneurs in this rapidly growing sector to set up in the United States.
I understand the skepticism of some of my fellow Democrats about the Clarity Act because of its lack of ethics rules toward President Trump’s ability to hold and trade crypto. But as we have seen from his sweetheart deal with Nvidia to loosen export controls on powerful AI chips to accepting a $400 million gift of a plane from a foreign government, President Trump does not need cryptocurrency to be corrupt. We can and should hold this President accountable for his numerous instances of corruption. But cryptocurrency is growing rapidly, and we can and should pass the Clarity Act to give this burgeoning industry stable rules of the road to ensure that it will long outlast President Trump. This bill is a massive step in the right direction in creating guardrails for the executive branch and finally implementing a pro-innovation, pro-consumer, transparent regulatory framework for the digital