White House adviser defends President Trump's crypto ties in wake of Clarity Act defeat

"The president agreed to not one but two different ethics provisions that were unprecedented in nature," Witt said. Apart from an eventual willingness to submit to rules that would have forced Trump to divest crypto interests or place them in a blind trust, the White House was also ready to concede to letting state attorneys general pursue the federal government if it failed to police ethical lapses, he said.

"That is without a doubt the most unprecedented, far-reaching, stringent, restrictive ethics provision that has ever been agreed to by any president," Witt said.

He said the Democrats accusing Trump of an improper conflict for steering digital assets policy while controlling a crypto empire is "somewhat ironic, given that we're dealing with a lot of senators on banking committees who hold stocks and actively trade stocks in financial services companies that they regulate."

Witt's primary role was to get the Clarity Act into law — a prospect that took a major hit last week when the U.S. Senate failed to advance the bill. He suggested at a CoinDesk Policy & Regulation event on Tuesday that the so-called lame duck congressional session at the end of the year is not a significant focus, saying the core work now is shifting to the federal regulators, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission.