The BSA-focused order directs the U.S. Treasury Department and regulators to issue guidance to banks and other entities.

"My Administration will not tolerate national security and public safety risks caused by illicit cross-border financial activity, nor will it permit risks to our financial system posed by the extension of credit or financial services to the inadmissible and removable alien population," Trump's order said.

This would include an advisory that notes "payroll tax evasion," shell companies and "the strategic use of unregistered money services businesses, third-party payment processors, or peer-to-peer platforms to facilitate 'off-the-books' wage payments intended to bypass Bank Secrecy Act reporting thresholds or tax obligations," among other types of entities.

While the order did not explicitly mention cryptocurrency or decentralized finance trading platforms, they could get caught up in any ultimate guidance, said Nicholas Anthony, a research fellow at the Cato Institute.

The next question is what might be in the guidance and advisory.

"Right now it's in the hands of the Treasury, and the Treasury is able to apply it not only however it sees fit, but also to whoever it sees fit, because of the broader power that the Treasury has under the Bank Secrecy Act," he said.

Senate shenanigans

The Senate Banking Committee voted to advance the Clarity Act just over a week ago.

The expectation was the overall Senate might get to this sometime in the next month, to sort out ethics and other outstanding issues and then vote on whether to send the bill to the House of Representatives. That timeline took a bit of a hit Thursday, when the Senate left town for the Memorial Day recess without voting on a reconciliation bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security, among other things.

The issue is this: There's really only so much time to get stuff done on the Senate floor. There are 19 working days in June and 15 in July. There's another five in August and then everyone's gone for the rest of the summer.

In that time, the Senate has to sort through reconciliation, a renewal of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (which will expire in mid-June) and possibly a housing bill.

Adding to the tension is the reason why the Senate left town. President Donald Trump's administration wanted $1 billion for his planned East Wing ballroom and more recently another $1.8 billion for a weaponization fund, which members of both parties have referred to as a "slush fund." The Senate had already dropped the ballroom funding from the bill, but the other $1.8 billion appeared to be too much to negotiate this week.

Negotiations over these issues — if there isn't any backroom dealing through the recess — can draw out the negotiation process, further limiting floor time for Clarity. And of course, there's still the ethics provision itself in the market structure bill. The White House hasn't yet indicated what exactly it might accept, so that's another negotiation to watch out for.

This week

This week

• The House and Senate are on recess this week.

If you’ve got thoughts or questions on what I should discuss next week or any other feedback you’d like to share, feel free to email me at nik@coindesk.com or find me on Bluesky @nikhileshde.bsky.social.

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See ya’ll next week!