Todd Blanche's AG Vote Is Crypto's Favorite Cliffhanger 🎬

The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote Tuesday on advancing Todd Blanche's nomination for Attorney General to the full Senate floor, a step that would lock in the Trump administration's lighter-touch approach to digital asset enforcement. Blanche, Trump's former personal defense attorney and current acting attorney general, disbanded the Department of Justice crypto enforcement unit during his tenure as Deputy AG. He can afford zero Republican defections in committee, according to reporting on the panel's internal whip count. The committee postponed an earlier markup at the request of Chair Chuck Grassley, who acknowledged his side lacked the votes, citing "standard committee practice." The full Senate vote has not been scheduled.

The hold-up is not coming from Democrats. Senators John Cornyn (TX) and Thom Tillis (NC) are withholding support over a proposed $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund tied to an IRS settlement, demanding written DOJ assurances before they sign on. The White House has held active talks with Cornyn's office to resolve the dispute. The standoff is being watched closely by digital asset markets because Blanche's confirmation would extend a permissive enforcement posture toward Bitcoin ($BTC), XRP, and spot crypto ETF flows that has defined his acting tenure.

The nomination is now entangled with the stalled CLARITY Act, the market structure bill that would codify jurisdictional lines between the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission over digital assets. Galaxy Research has cut its odds of the bill passing in 2026 to 30%, citing the compressed legislative calendar ahead of the August recess. Senate floor timing on the AG nomination and on CLARITY is converging in the same narrow pre-recess window, forcing crypto lobbyists and token issuers to track committee whip counts as closely as spot $ETH liquidity.

Aides to both Cornyn and Tillis said negotiations over the $1.8 billion figure were continuing as of Monday evening, with no public commitment on a revised DOJ letter. If the two senators withhold their votes, Blanche's nomination cannot advance out of committee on Tuesday. Senate Majority leadership has not indicated whether a floor vote would be scheduled before recess even if the committee clears the nominee this week, leaving the timing of any final confirmation vote unresolved.