Crypto Policy Hearing Disrupted by Democrats Over Trump's Digital Assets

Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives disrupted a planned joint hearing on crypto policy efforts on Tuesday. The hearing was intended to discuss industry regulations, but Democrats insisted that President Donald Trump's personal crypto dealings were too urgent to allow other discussions. Maxine Waters, the ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, objected to the joint hearing, citing the president's ownership of crypto and his oversight of all the agencies. This objection effectively robbed the gathering of its official status, which required unanimous consent to proceed with the panel's joint hearing alongside the House Agriculture Committee.

Waters invited people to join the Democrats in another room to discuss what she believed should be the focus: Trump's crypto corruption. The aborted hearing began with raised voices and arguments between Democrats and Republicans. Democrats insisted that the president's digital assets ties, including his own memecoin and connections to World Liberty Financial, needed to be addressed. Republicans, who had introduced a discussion draft this week on proposed language for a crypto market structure bill, were left to continue their discussion with the invited witnesses.

Two separate discussions took place on Tuesday morning, illustrating the growing divide between the parties on how to oversee the digital assets sector. Representative French Hill, the Republican chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, expressed frustration, stating that a joint hearing was crucial. He argued that by objecting to the hearing, the ranking member was undermining the opportunity for the two committees to engage in a vital conversation for the American people.

In the Republican-driven discussion, which had technically become a "roundtable" with participants rather than witnesses, former Commodity Futures and Trading Commission Chairman Rostin Behnam argued for more authority and funding for the agency to lead in regulating crypto. Coinbase executive Greg Tusar called the market structure bill a "strong step" toward clarity for the industry. Meanwhile, in the Democrats' hastily organized meeting, Waters criticized the Republican majority for refusing to address the issues. Democrats were prepared to discuss their own legislation, which aims to ban top government officials from involvement in crypto assets or businesses.

Chastity Murphy, a former aide to Rep. Rashida Tlaib who worked on stablecoin legislation and is now a visiting fellow at the University of Manchester, argued in the Democrats' hearing that not prohibiting lawmakers from holding crypto assets or firms engaging in this kind of business is akin to legalizing "holding public office for profit." In Trump's case, not prohibiting his crypto activities also means allowing him to determine which regulations could benefit his financial interests.