A bipartisan "ethics" provision attached to landmark crypto legislation could require President Trump to divest from his digital-asset businesses while simultaneously letting him defer the capital gains taxes on those sales — and the bill engineering all of it remains hidden from public view.
The provision, still being negotiated behind closed doors between the White House and lawmakers, would force Trump to sell his crypto holdings but allow him to defer capital gains levies on the sale, according to Bloomberg Tax News, which cited people familiar with the matter. With Trump reporting more than $1.4 billion in income from his family's crypto ventures last year, the deferral could shelter a sum that would stagger most working Americans — all while they file their returns on time and pay every dime.
The ethics addendum is attached to the Clarity Act, a bill designed to clarify which federal regulators have jurisdiction over the crypto industry. Key Senate Democrats had demanded a strong ethics provision as the price of their support, specifically targeting the ability of political figures — including Trump — to profit from personal crypto ventures.
But the cure may be sweeter than the disease. Bloomberg Tax News reported that forced divestiture is "expected to allow the president" to defer capital gains — a mechanism that turns a supposed constraint into a tax shelter. Reuters confirmed the broad outlines, reporting that the benefit "will include the ability to defer capital gains levies on his crypto holdings."
Neither outlet identified who drafted the tax-deferral language. The addendum has not been released publicly. The White House did not respond to Reuters' request for comment.
The numbers are staggering. In June, Trump reported more than $1.4 billion in income from his family's crypto ventures last year — making digital assets his single largest income source. Those holdings have been buoyed by his own policy positions on crypto deregulation.
What Reuters framed as an ethics proposal with an incidental tax benefit, Bloomberg Tax News presented more directly: the divestiture plan itself is the vehicle for the windfall. The distinction matters. If the tax deferral is baked into the divestiture requirement, the senators who demanded the ethics provision may have handed Trump a better deal than no provision at all.
This is the bipartisan bargain the public needs to scrutinize. Senate Democrats get to claim they forced a president to divest. Trump gets to sell on terms that defer his tax bill. The crypto industry gets the regulatory clarity it has spent years lobbying to obtain. The only party not at the table is the American taxpayer — who will never see a deal like this on their own capital gains.
The bill remains secret. The negotiations remain private. And the question neither outlet answered — who wrote the provision that turns divestiture into a tax break — is the one working Americans most need asked.
