CLARITY Act Exposes Wall Street Rift as Goldman's Solomon Backs Bill, JPMorgan's Dimon Pushes Back

Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon has publicly thrown his support behind the updated Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, widely referred to as the CLARITY Act, in a Politico interview published July 26. The endorsement breaks with the banking lobby's typically unified resistance to a statutory crypto market-structure framework and immediately drew fire from Capitol Hill: seven Senate Democrats labeled the latest draft a Republican-only proposal that still falls short on ethics rules and consumer protections. Solomon said he is "very supportive of moving the Clarity Act forward," while conceding the bill is not perfect. He argued its central value is creating a level playing field that can improve market stability and give digital-asset markets clearer ground to develop, adding that advancing the legislation would help put market structure in place and allow innovation to progress. The stance puts Goldman at odds with JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, who has been on record opposing the measure. In a May interview with Fox Business, Dimon said the bill would let crypto firms effectively pay interest on deposits without facing the same regulatory safeguards imposed on banks. He added he wanted nothing to do with it and warned it would "eventually blow up." Banking trade groups reinforced that message on Wednesday, warning that the newest draft still threatens local lending, pointing in particular to how it treats crypto rewards programs. The divergence reflects different business models, according to market observers: Goldman has positioned itself more as an institutional digital-asset participant, while large retail, deposit-funded lenders face different competitive risks under a digital-asset regime where the CFTC plays the primary regulatory role. On the political front, seven Senate Democrats—Angela Alsobrooks, Cory Booker, Catherine Cortez Masto, Ruben Gallego, John Hickenlooper, Mark Warner, and Raphael Warnock—issued a joint statement Wednesday saying the revised text remains inadequate on ethics, consumer protection, illicit finance, conflicts of interest, and market integrity, Politico reported. Booker described the draft as a Republican text and said the only workable path is bipartisan. Senator Elizabeth Warren went further, writing on X that the bill is "dead on arrival" and arguing it fails to prevent President Donald Trump from further profiting from crypto. Democrats are also pushing for state attorneys general—not only the Department of Justice—to have enforcement authority over the bill's ethics provisions, a demand they say the current draft does not satisfy. A key unknown is Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), a central negotiator who did not sign the Democrats' joint statement, leaving at least a procedural opening for the bipartisan support Booker says is necessary. Senator Cynthia Lummis rejected the Democratic critiques, arguing the bill is legitimate and saying Trump has agreed to ethics standards that would bar all federal officials, including himself, from certain crypto-related activities.