White House Sets July 4 Deadline for Landmark Crypto Bill

The White House’s top crypto adviser, Patrick Witt, set a July 4 target date to pass broad crypto legislation into law, speaking Wednesday at the Consensus conference in Miami. As executive director of the President’s Council of Advisors for Digital Assets, Witt said he believed the Senate could advance the legislation in June, leaving time for the House to also pass its version and allow for reconciliation.

Legislative Timeline and Status

The House passed its version of the crypto bill last year. Witt stated: “We’re targeting July 4. I think that would be a tremendous birthday present for America, celebrating our 250th.”

According to The Block’s reporting, the Senate Banking Committee could decide to hold a hearing to amend and vote on the bill as early as the following week.

Regulatory Framework and Stablecoin Provisions

Over the past year, the Senate has been advancing a bill that seeks to regulate the crypto industry at the federal level for the first time, in part through divvying up jurisdiction between the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The main sticking point in the Senate Banking Committee has centered on the treatment of stablecoin rewards. According to The Block, compromise language was released last week, though bank trade groups have argued that it “falls short” of their expectations.

Ethics Concerns and Political Complications

A looming ethics issue has come to the forefront. Many Senate Democrats have raised concerns over President Donald Trump and his family’s crypto connections. Bloomberg has estimated that Trump and his family’s crypto assets have brought in about $1.4 billion since his inauguration.

Both Trump and his wife, Melania Trump, launched memecoins ahead of the inauguration. His family has also led the DeFi and stablecoin project World Liberty Financial.

At Consensus in Miami, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., a prominent voice on the crypto bill, stated that there would be no support for the bill without an ethics provision.

Compromise Discussions

On Wednesday, Witt said discussions with Democrats have been good recently, adding that they have been consistent in saying that language cannot target “anyone’s family, any one particular politician.” He stated: “I think we’re getting a lot closer to a compromise on that, and I’m optimistic that we’re going to be able to close that out as well.”

When pressed about whether language would include the president, Witt said the rules would apply universally: “I think it’s not really so much the President, this President, the Office of the President. It is if you’re applying rules that you’re only trying to single out one particular office holder or one particular individual, that is not something we are going to entertain.”