Bitcoin Hits a Two-Month High. Trump Calls on Congress to Pass Cryptocurrency Legislation
Bitcoin has surged by more than 7% over the past 24 hours, briefly surpassing $69,800, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Seeking Alpha notes that the cryptocurrency last traded at these levels in early June. Market participants reacted to statements by U.S. President Donald Trump, Bloomberg explains. While hosting executives from key companies in the industry at the White House, Trump called on Congress to pass a bill on cryptocurrencies.
What Trump Said
During a meeting at the White House with executives from cryptocurrency companies, Trump unveiled the so-called Clarity Act, which is intended to define the legal status of digital assets as a critically important measure for maintaining the U.S.’s competitive edge in the technology race, according to Bloomberg.
“We need Congress to take the next step by passing a fair version of the Clarity Act,” Trump said, emphasizing that this law, in his view, should “allow [the U.S.] to stay ahead of China and everyone else.” The states, the president continued, are at “the very beginning of a revolution” in the financial sector, which has “the potential to create more jobs, opportunities, and wealth for all Americans.”
The meeting with Trump at the White House was attended by Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss of Gemini Space Station, and the co-CEO of Payward, which operates the Kraken cryptocurrency exchange, Arjun Sethi, and Robinhood Markets CEO Vlad Tenev.
Coinbase shares surged more than 9% on August 19 amid Trump’s remarks and a rise in the price of Bitcoin; after the close of the main U.S. trading session on Wednesday, they rose by nearly 4% more. Gemini Space Station shares gained 11% and 3.8%, respectively, while Robinhood shares jumped 4.6% during regular trading on August 19 and rose nearly 3% more after the market closed.
What's Happening with the Clarity Act
The Clarity Act, which is intended to define the legal status of digital assets, was approved in mid-May by a key Senate committee—the Banking Committee. However, discussion of the bill in the upper chamber of the U.S. Congress later stalled—partly due to controversies surrounding ethics and Trump’s own involvement in the digital asset sector. In early July, the U.S. president reported that in 2025 he earned $1.4 billion from cryptocurrency and memecoin projects. This amount turned out to be the president’s largest source of income, notes Bloomberg.
According to the agency, the Senate is expected to resume consideration of the Clarity Act in mid-September. However, this timeline leaves Congress with little time to pass the bill before the midterm elections in November. Industry leaders fear that Congress’s inaction leaves them in a state of legal uncertainty that could slow the widespread adoption of digital assets in the financial industry, Bloomberg reports.
This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor
