The U.S. crypto market structure bill just ran into the messiest kind of obstacle: the sitting president's own wallet.
The CLARITY Act was supposed to do one useful thing — draw a clear line on whether a digital asset falls under the SEC (securities) or the CFTC (commodities). For anyone building in crypto, that clarity is worth a fortune. Clear rules mean a compliance path exists.
But the bill stalled. Not on technical grounds — on ethics. With Trump and his family deeply tied to crypto ventures, some lawmakers argue that loosening the rules effectively loosens them around the president's personal finances. Hence the fight over a provision barring officials from profiting off crypto legislation.
If you run a Chinese Web3 team eyeing an overseas structure, here's what I tell clients:
- Don't bet on U.S. clarity arriving soon. Market structure legislation has dragged across multiple Congresses. Add presidential self-interest and it gets slower, not faster. Build your structure on rules that are already in force — not on a bill that "might pass."
- The SEC-vs-CFTC question is your cost structure. The same token classified as a security versus a commodity means completely different disclosure duties and retail access. Decide the classification question early — don't get your live product retroactively labeled an unregistered security.
- The China side hasn't moved an inch. Since the 2017 and 2021 notices, the domestic line on virtual currency is unchanged — onshore issuance and holding stays closed. A team in China + an offshore entity + overseas users is a common structure, but every layer hides a legal-characterization problem an offshore shell can't paper over.
I come at this as a CS-background, China-licensed cross-border lawyer who actually ran cross-border e-commerce operations before practicing law — so I read both the on-chain flow and the legal-and-capital flow, which most crypto teams treat separately.
Building a Web3 go-global structure? Map your four nodes — where the people are, where the entity sits, how money enters and exits, who your users are — and check which jurisdiction governs each. Send me that map and let's walk through it.
———
Mike Wu, China-licensed Attorney · Cross-border practice
4 languages (CN/EN/ES/JA)
Site: wzklaw.com/contact.php?source=linkedin · Book consultation: wzklaw.com/contact.php?source=linkedin
#CrossBorderLaw #Web3Compliance #CryptoRegulation #ChinaLegal #AIlawyer