Ex-governor of New York and Democrat Andrew Cuomo has said lawmakers need to hurry up and get the “highly political” Clarity Act over the line.
Cuomo, who is also the director of crypto exchange OKX, said that Democrats and Republicans were mainly locking horns over the ethics language in the bill.
A number of lawmakers are hoping the Clarity Act — which would set in stone crypto regulation in the U.S. — gets passed before Congress departs for August recess. The bill was passed by the House of Representatives last year but sticking points remain.
“We need clarity,” Cuomo said Thursday on CNBC’s Squawk Box. “Tell me the rules — I want to play the game fairly, but you have to tell me the boundaries, and that’s what the Clarity Act is all about.”
Cuomo added that Democrats wanted to “raise in the campaign” the issue of the Trump family making money in crypto — and so were continuing to bring up the issue of ethics.
A new draft of the Clarity Act started circulating that tackled the issue of ethics, banning government officials from promoting or making money from crypto.
Some Democrats have criticized President Trump’s crypto business interests, with some alleging conflicts of interest as his family has made money from meme coins and the decentralized finance protocol, World Liberty Financial. The White House has always said there have been no conflicts of interest.
New language has been drafted, bipartisanly, adding changes to the ethics section of the bill. The White House is reportedly looking over it this week.
Cuomo continued: “I think Democrats have to be a little careful because you want to talk about conflicts of interest, meanwhile you have Democrats who are buying stocks and they have inside information also.”
He warned: “And again, the world is passing us by. OKX, we’re doing gangbusters in Europe, and they’re passing regulations, and the technology is flourishing.”
“When you pass the regulations, and you allow innovation to develop, it takes off, and that’s what’s happening around the world, and it’s not happening here in the U.S. because of the Clarity Act,” he added.