White House's Patrick Witt: CLARITY Is 'Not a Giveaway' to Crypto and Trump's 'Historic' Ethics Concession

CoinDesk's The Policy Protocol hosts Rebecca Rettig and Renato Mariotti open on the week's biggest policy news from SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce's statement on crypto vaults to the London Stock Exchange's launch of a 24/5 tokenized market. Then, Patrick Witt, Executive Director of the President's Council of Advisors for Digital Assets, joins to make the case that the CLARITY Act deserves a Senate floor vote before the August recess and argues that President Trump's agreement to subject himself to conduct restrictions is a "historic" and unprecedented ethics concession. Witt also breaks down the CFTC's expanded mission and the fight over funding and staffing. Plus, Rebecca and Renato debrief on the lessons of MiCA and the state of bipartisan compromise on the Hill, and name the state attorneys general, led by an op-ed from Montana's AG, as their Person of the Week. - This episode is brought to you by RealFi, a smarter stablecoin, backed by real-world assets. Find out more at⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ realfi.co⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. - JPEG Trading is a global proprietary trading firm specializing in cryptocurrency and decentralized finance markets. From market structure and liquidity provision to quantitative trading strategies, JPEG Trading operates across the full spectrum of blockchain-based assets. Follow @jpegtrading on X to stay ahead of the latest developments in digital asset markets:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://x.com/jpegtrading⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ - Check out CoinDesk Research’s report on the evolution of crypto centralized exchanges, with a case study on Binance at: https://www.coindesk.com/research/the-evolution-of-the-crypto-cex-landscape-a-case-study-on-binance - Timecodes: 00:00 Cold Open: 'No Other President Has Done That' 01:07 Welcome to The Policy Protocol 01:59 Hester Peirce on Crypto Vaults & Onchain Lending 04:22 The LSE's 24/5 Market, LSE24 05:59 NYSE, OKX, and TradFi's Tokenization Push 06:18 The CLARITY Act & Guest Patrick Witt 06:41 Will CLARITY Pass Before the August Recess? 09:01 Inside the Bill's Historic Ethics Provision 11:06 The Tillis Ethics Compromise 12:40 Funding the CFTC's Expanded Mission 14:03 Why CLARITY Isn't a Giveaway to Crypto 17:04 Debrief: MiCA's Lessons and Market Structure 20:37 Person of the Week: State Attorneys General