With Trump in the Mix, Progressives Are Winning the Intra Party Crypto War

President Donald Trump’s embrace of crypto could be the “kiss of death” for bipartisan legislation on the currency, one pro-crypto Democrat told NOTUS after Democratic senators pulled their support from a key bill.

“I see him as the greatest stumbling block to a bipartisan crypto compromise moving smoothly through both chambers of Congress, particularly the Senate,” House cryptocurrency caucus chair Rep. Ritchie Torres said. “Donald Trump poisons and polarizes everything he touches and I worry that he is poisoning and polarizing the climate for crypto legislation.”

Democrats are deeply divided on cryptocurrency, but skeptics appear to be winning out this week despite the massive amount of crypto industry election cash across both parties last year.

After Senate Majority Leader John Thune scheduled a procedural vote on the GENIUS Act for Thursday, a group of Democrats withdrew their support, spurring a wave of negotiations and huddles this week.

The GENIUS Act would set guidelines for stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency with its value tied to another currency. Trump’s crypto company, World Liberty Financial, launched its own stablecoin in late March after the Senate Banking committee’s markup of the bill. That’s one of a litany of issues Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the Senate Banking Committee ranking member, flagged to colleagues in briefs opposing the bill reviewed by NOTUS.

“The bill as it currently stands still has numerous issues that must be addressed,” Democrats, including Sens. Ruben Gallego and Mark Warner who supported the bill in committee, said in a joint statement Saturday.

The senators were hesitant to blame their decision entirely on Trump, arguing that there are still changes that could swing them back. But the president’s influence, along with what progressives like Warren have called rampant “crypto corruption,” is scrambling the politics of the issue.

Negotiations were ongoing ahead of Thursday’s scheduled vote, with Democrats pushing to delay the vote, as Axios first reported. Warner told reporters Wednesday evening, “No deal yet,” and Gallego gave a quick, “It’s going well.”

“I take everything into consideration,” Sen. John Hickenlooper, who signed onto Saturday’s statement, told NOTUS when asked if Trump played into his decision to back off the bill. “Issues around self-dealing are serious, and this is a place where there aren’t a lot of safeguards and there’s a potential for – let’s call it mischief.”

Another potential supporter, Democratic Sen. Ben Ray Luján, told NOTUS he has a whole host of questions about the bill that are unrelated to Trump but is confident that it can be changed to win his and others’ support. “There’s several people that want to be supportive of the legislation. We’ll see what Republicans do right now. ”

Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis, one of the sponsors of the bill, has been trying to fight off the Trump factor and convince her colleagues that the bill is unrelated to Trump’s crypto venture.

“I’ve been working on this for four years, it has had nothing to do with Trump and it has everything to do with a segment of our economy that has enormous promise,” she told reporters Tuesday.

For some Democrats, crypto regulations have become a bellwether of the party’s power to fight back in the Trump administration.

“We cannot fold in this moment because it truly sets the stage,” one Democratic source familiar with the crypto discussions told NOTUS.

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Claire Heddles is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.