Scaramucci: Trump's Memecoins Were 'Singular Reason' CLARITY Act Failed

SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci has blamed President Donald Trump's crypto business interests and memecoin launches for derailing the CLARITY Act, saying they cost the legislation its Democratic support. He made the comments to Cointelegraph at SALT London.

Scaramucci said memecoin launches shortly before Trump's January 2025 inauguration undermined bipartisan momentum for crypto regulation that had built up following the 2024 election.

"Singular reason," Scaramucci said when asked whether the memecoin activities were the sole cause of the bill's failure. He said Democrats who had grown more receptive to crypto regulation withdrew their support after the launches.

A narrow defeat in the Senate

The remarks follow the Senate's failure to advance the CLARITY Act on September 15, when a procedural motion received only 49 votes in favor against 50 opposed, falling short of the 60 votes required to clear a filibuster, the Senate rule that forces a supermajority before most bills can reach a final vote.

The bill sought to establish a federal regulatory framework for digital assets, including clarifying the boundary between SEC and CFTC oversight. For years, uncertainty over which tokens count as securities versus commodities has been a core complaint from the US crypto industry.

Disputes over ethics provisions

Beyond the memecoin issue, Scaramucci pointed to disagreements over proposed ethics restrictions. Lawmakers reportedly wanted stronger provisions limiting government officials' crypto interests, but the White House opposed them.

"I think it's the business interests, the memecoins," Scaramucci said, adding that lawmakers were "trying to put real teeth into the ethics provision" but the White House did not want to sign off on it.

"There's culpability on both sides for that deal not going forward," he said, suggesting the standoff wasn't the fault of one side alone.

Why Trump's memecoins became a flashpoint

Memecoins are crypto tokens whose value is typically driven by hype and community momentum rather than clear technology or utility. That makes them prone to extreme volatility and a frequent target for regulators who view them as pure speculation.

When Trump launched his own memecoin ahead of taking office, many in Congress saw a direct clash with his role as head of state who would later help shape crypto policy. That perceived conflict of interest is what several Democratic lawmakers cited when pulling back support from a bill that had once looked on track for bipartisan passage.

Scrutiny of Trump's crypto ventures predates the vote

Concerns about Trump's conflicts of interest in crypto predate the September vote. In July, five Democratic senators called for hearings into Trump's crypto holdings, citing worries that his financial ties could shape crypto policy.

House Financial Services Committee Chair French Hill also acknowledged that Trump's crypto businesses had complicated efforts to pass legislation.

In August, consumer advocacy group Public Citizen estimated investors had incurred at least $4.7 billion in largely unrealized losses across Trump-related crypto ventures, with $3.2 billion tied to the Official Trump (TRUMP) memecoin. Citing his financial disclosure, the group said Trump earned $635 million in memecoin licensing fees in 2025.

Scaramucci still bullish on tokenization

Despite the legislative setback, Scaramucci said the SEC's approach under Chair Paul Atkins could help tokenization reach "escape velocity," meaning enough adoption that a future SEC chair would find it difficult to stop or slow the industry down. Tokenization refers to representing real-world assets, from equities to real estate, as tokens on a blockchain.

He acknowledged it's too early to know whether adoption will reach that point before the next administration takes over.

What it means for traders

The CLARITY Act's failure means the US still lacks a clear federal regulatory framework for digital assets, at least until lawmakers make another attempt. A few things are worth watching:

• Whether a revived version of the bill emerges in the next congressional session, and whether ethics provisions become a non-negotiable demand from Democrats before they sign back on.
• The SEC's moves under Paul Atkins on real-world asset tokenization, since that path offers an alternative route for regulatory progress outside a stalled Congress.
• Sentiment around Trump-linked tokens, given Public Citizen's billion-dollar loss estimates already logged by investors.
• Political dynamics in Congress heading into the next legislative cycle, since US regulatory uncertainty has repeatedly influenced how institutions time their allocations into crypto.

The regulatory limbo itself isn't new for crypto markets in the US. But Scaramucci's comments underline that the holdup isn't purely a technical legal dispute. It's tangled up with political conflicts of interest involving the head of state himself.