by Coinstrooper Crypto Articles
Quick Take
  • New York Attorney General Letitia James says a crypto bill in the Senate would leave scam victims with nowhere to turn.
  • James sent her case to a Senate investigations panel on Monday.
  • She wants tougher crypto oversight, not less of it.
  • The bill is called the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act.

What Happened

James sent her case to a Senate investigations panel on Monday. She wants tougher crypto oversight, not less of it.

It would also override state investor protection laws. That is the part James cannot accept.

The SEC closed more than 1,000 investigations in 2025. It also dropped seven crypto cases. Judges had already found violations in five of them.

The bill would stop presidents and federal officials from launching their own crypto. Supporters call this the ethics fix.

Market Context

The bill is called the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act. It would hand most crypto rulemaking to one federal agency, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

Why It Matters

The House already passed the bill in July 2025. The vote was 294 to 134. It cleared a key Senate committee in May.

Details

New York Attorney General Letitia James says a crypto bill in the Senate would leave scam victims with nowhere to turn. Coinbase wants that same bill passed within days.

Why Is New York Fighting the Crypto Oversight Bill?

Her office polices securities and commodities for 20 million New Yorkers. Take away that power, she argues, and scam victims lose their closest cop.

How Bad Are Crypto Scam Losses?

Bad, and getting worse. Her testimony stacks up four separate datasets.

The average victim reported losing $62,604, according to the FBI. Crypto complaints to the bureau rose 21% in a year.

James names real cases. One scam worked through Haitian church prayer groups. Another used Facebook ads to hook Russian speakers, then ran the money to Vietnam.

Who Actually Catches Crypto Criminals?

This is the heart of her argument, and the numbers are lopsided.

State and local agencies are 99% of all US law enforcement bodies. They handle about 99.5% of criminal cases and 98.8% of arrests.

Federal authorities handle roughly 1.2%.

At the same time, Washington has pulled back. The Justice Department told prosecutors in April 2025 to stop charging platforms for what their users do. It shut down its crypto enforcement team.

Does the Bill’s Ethics Ban Actually Work?

Here is the finding buried deepest in her filing.

James read the fine print. The ban would let the sitting president park existing crypto businesses in a blind trust. It would also not start until a full year after the bill becomes law.

She wants something stricter. Officials should not regulate any industry they earn money from. Break that rule and you hand back the profits plus a $50,000 fine each time.

Her case points to Binance, which holds 87% of USD1. That is a stablecoin issued by World Liberty Financial, a firm founded by the president’s family. Forbes and the New York Times reported those holdings.

Who Else Opposes the Bill?