Two Democratic lawmakers on the US Senate Banking Committee and Senate Agriculture Committee, expected to vote on a market structure bill soon, have signaled that they would oppose the legislation without an investigation into two White House officials.
In a Tuesday letter to officials in the US State Department, Commerce Department and Department of Ethics, Senators Elizabeth Warren and Elissa Slotkin called for authorities to investigate US President Donald Trump’s AI and crypto czar, David Sacks, and his Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff.
The two Democratic lawmakers signaled that, without information as to whether “politically connected crypto interests are undermining our national security,” they would not support legislation to establish a digital asset market structure currently moving through the Senate.
Warren’s and Slotkin’s letter stemmed from a Sept. 15 New York Times report regarding a $2-billion deal between Abu Dhabi-based investment company MGX and cryptocurrency exchange Binance. The investment, announced in March, was settled using the USD1 stablecoin issued by the Trump family’s crypto business, World Liberty Financial. According to The New York Times, Sacks and Witkoff facilitated the deal by offering the UAE access to AI chips.
“In the history of our country’s foreign policy, one is hard-pressed to find two senior officials with such significant conflicts of interest involved in decisions regarding national security,” wrote the two senators. “Such unbridled conflicts of interest have no place in the US government, and we urge you to undertake a swift and thorough evaluation of these allegations.”
The letter added:
“This information is also critical as Congress considers legislation for digital asset market structure and attempts to ensure that crypto corruption does not undermine our national security.”
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Warren, the ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, and Slotkin, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, could represent crucial votes and a bellwether for other Democrats when the chamber is expected to consider a market structure bill.
Last week, a group of 12 Democrats signaled that they would work with Republicans on market structure, provided they supported “preventing corruption and abuse” and other provisions in any potential bill. Warren said in August that she supported regulation of digital assets, but not in any legislation “written by the crypto industry.”
Crypto bill already delayed after congressional recess
Though a market structure bill in the US House of Representatives initially faced some hurdles over Republicans’ concerns with central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), the legislation moved through the chamber in July, along with the stablecoin GENIUS bill and the Anti-CBDC Surveillance Act. The House market structure bill, called the CLARITY Act, passed with bipartisan support, with 78 Democrats voting yay.
Since moving to the Senate, however, the legislation has faced similar challenges. Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis, a member of the banking committee and one of the market structure bill’s key proponents, said in August that Republicans’ goal was to have the bill out of committee by the end of the month. However, no scheduled vote appeared on the banking committee’s calendar at the time of publication.
A person familiar with the matter told Cointelegraph that Republicans were engaging with Democrats over the Senate bill, titled the Responsible Financial Innovation Act, and were still hoping to get the legislation signed into law by 2026. Cointelegraph reached out to the White House for comment, but had not received a response at the time of publication.
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