Investment bank TD Cowen: If Trump agrees to fill the Democratic vacancies at the SEC and CFTC, the progress of the CLARITY Act may be effectively promoted

According to The Block, investment bank TD Cowen stated that filling the Democratic vacancies at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission could help advance negotiations on the U.S. crypto market structure bill.

The investment bank pointed out that the biggest obstacle to the passage of this bill is not its core framework (i.e., whether digital assets should be regulated as securities by the SEC or as commodities by the CFTC), but rather a political dispute surrounding conflict of interest rules.

Democrats are pushing for a ban to prevent senior government officials and their families from engaging in specific financial transactions involving digital assets. TD Cowen noted that, given Trump's involvement in the crypto project World Liberty Financial, this proposal would affect Trump and his family. Bloomberg estimated last month that Trump has made about $1.4 billion from his crypto project. The Trump family also holds a 20% stake in the mining company American Bitcoin.

According to TD Cowen, it is unlikely that Democrats will abandon this demand, as the party has used Trump's crypto asset holdings as campaign material ahead of the midterm elections. Last month, no Democratic senators voted in favor of a bill in the Senate Agriculture Committee, citing concerns over Trump's crypto project. It remains unclear whether Democrats will support the Senate Banking Committee's bill.

TD Cowen stated that Republicans oppose the proposal because they believe Trump would veto any legislation requiring his family to divest their crypto asset holdings. The report added that this disagreement has already caused a political stalemate, even as industry groups continue to negotiate the crypto regulatory framework.

One possible path forward is for both parties to reach a compromise. In this scenario, Trump would agree to fill the Democratic vacancies at the SEC and CFTC. In return, Democrats would accept conflict of interest provisions that would only take effect after the next presidential inauguration.