THE CLARITY ACT IS GETTING CLOSER TO PASSING AS ETHICS NEGOTIATIONS CONTINUE!
July 23, 2026
AI Summary
5 min readSenate Republicans released the latest draft of the Clarity Act, and for the first time it includes a crypto-specific ethics agreement covering the president, vice president, members of Congress, their spouses, and senior executive branch officials. The provision bans these officials from issuing or holding cryptocurrencies tied to themselves — effectively a direct response to the political meme coin phenomenon. Tony Edward calls this “exactly what we want to see,” regardless of party affiliation.
But the fine print introduces complications. The ethics ban sunsets on January 20, 2029 — the same year the CBDC ban sunsets, which Edward finds suspicious. “Why would you only ban it for three years?” he asks, promising to bring experts on to explain the mechanism. On the Democratic side, negotiators are demanding that enforcement be left to each state’s attorney general. Edward calls that “unrealistic,” predicting a “hodgepodge of all kinds of craziness” as different states enforce the same rule differently. Despite these disagreements, lead negotiators are still working across the aisle, and Edward characterizes the back-and-forth as normal “sausage making.” Polymarket odds for passage dipped below 50% after the draft, but Edward says the key metric is progress, not daily betting flows.
The House Passes a Broader Stock Trading Ban
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What you'll learn
- 1 (01:04) **Welcome and Episode Overview** - Tony Edward introduces the Thinking Crypto Podcast and sets up a packed news episode focused on the Clarity Act and broader crypto regulation.
- 2 (01:29) **Senate Republicans Release New Clarity Act Draft with Crypto Ethics Agreement** - The latest version of the bill includes a ban on government officials (President, VP, Congress, and spouses) from owning meme coins or cryptocurrencies tied to them.
- 3 (02:43) **The Good and the Bad: Tony's Critique of Both Sides** - The host gives his independent analysis of the Republican and Democrat positions on the ethics language.
- 4 (04:11) **Negotiations Continue: Democrats Oppose Draft but Will Work on It** - Despite opposing the current draft, Democrats are willing to work with Republicans to get the bill passed.
- 5 (04:56) **Progress Report and Polymarket Odds** - The bill's passage odds on Polymarket dropped after the draft release but are still a sign of progress.
- 6 (06:07) **Upcoming Interview and The Bigger Picture** - Tony announces an upcoming interview with Congressman Brian Stil, head of the House Digital Assets Subcommittee.
- 7 (06:46) **Crypto PAC Pours $1M into Michigan Democratic Primary** - The crypto lobby is actively backing pro-crypto candidates, using the 2024 election results as a warning.
+ Full timestamped outline available in the app
Guests on this episode
Show Notes
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⏰ Time Stamps ⏰
00:00 Intro
00:23 Clarity Act ethics draft
05:30 Crypto PAC Democrat primary race
06:34 House passes Congress Stock Trading ban
09:41 S&P Blockchain Crypto index
11:35 SEC Hester Peirce Crypto vaults & lending
12:23 BNY Tokenized Treasuries
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