White House crypto adviser Witt defends Clarity Act, calls it 'pro-law enforcement' as lawmakers race to pass bill

The White House's top cryptocurrency adviser, Patrick Witt, called the Clarity Act a "pro-regulatory, pro-enforcement bill," despite pushback from law enforcement groups who say the bill doesn't do enough to guard against financial crimes.

As time runs out to pass bills this year, lawmakers are barreling towards trying to pass that sweeping digital asset legislation into law, with potentially only a narrow window, ahead of midterm elections later in the year.

On Thursday, the Blockchain Association, which earlier this week sent a letter urging passage of the bill signed by 160 former security officials, held a virtual town hall in a push to move Clarity forward. During the call, Witt, Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis, Rep. Tom Emmer, and others pushed for passage of the bill.

"Money is moving faster globally, and if we are not setting standards as the United States, then we are going to be receivers of somebody else's playbook," Witt said.

If the bill is not passed this year, it may not be considered until 2030, Lummis said.

"We want to push this through because we know not only is time a-wasting, but that this is the most highly negotiated bipartisan or nonpartisan, sophisticated piece of a regulatory framework for digital assets that's ever been presented to the public in this country," Lummis added.

Over the past year, the Clarity Act has faced multiple hurdles, including a fight between banks and crypto over stablecoin rewards and concerns over President Donald Trump's own crypto ventures making him millions. The latter has not been figured out yet and could jeopardize the bill's future.

An issue that has come to the forefront has been around the bill's provisions involving anti-money laundering standards, as well as a provision that decentralized finance advocates have pushed for called the Blockchain Regulatory Certainty Act. BRCA, which would clarify that non-custodial developers are not money transmitters, was included in the latest version in the Senate.

Law enforcement groups and lawmakers have raised concerns that parts of the Clarity Act and BRCA make it harder to crack down on financial crime. Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto voted against the Clarity Act last month over those concerns, saying that it "undermines law enforcement’s ability to trace illicit finance and recover victims’ money, while at the same time creating a more challenging environment to prosecute criminals for knowingly transmitting illicit funds."

On Thursday, during a town hall event hosted by The Blockchain Association, Witt, executive director of the president's council of advisors for digital assets, said lawmakers have responded to concerns by adding new sections to the bill ahead of the Senate Banking Committee vote last month.

"This is a pro-regulatory bill, it's a pro-law enforcement bill, truly," Witt said.