A major on-chain move of TRUMP tokens worth almost $17m by Donald Trump’s official team has sharpened concerns over the project’s insider holdings, just as a bitter dispute over crypto ethics rules threatens to derail the US Senate’s Digital Asset Market Clarity Act (CLARITY Act).
Blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence reported that 16.84 million TRUMP tokens – valued at around $16.91m – were sent on 25 July to three Fireblocks custody wallets linked to the Official Trump operation.
In an alert titled “TRUMP TEAM SENT $16M TRUMP TO CUSTODY”, Arkham said the tokens were split across the three Fireblocks addresses. The firm added that each of those wallets had previously received TRUMP tokens and later forwarded them to BitGo, prompting questions over whether the latest transfers are tied to upcoming token unlocks.
The transactions do not in themselves prove that any TRUMP has been sold or moved to a trading venue. However, the use of custody wallets has drawn fresh attention because a large proportion of the memecoin’s supply is still concentrated in wallets controlled by insiders.
According to blockchain data cited in the report, Trump’s team retains the capacity to sell up to 96 million TRUMP tokens – around 9.6% of the total supply and roughly 40% of the reported circulating supply of 237 million tokens. Around 80% of the overall supply is estimated to remain in insider hands, while about 670 million tokens, or 67% of the total, have already unlocked.
At the time of the report, TRUMP was trading near $1.57, marking an 83% slide from its year-on-year peak and a near-98% fall from the high of $73.43 recorded in January 2025.
Ethics dispute clouds CLARITY Act push
The token movements come as Senate Republicans race to build support for the CLARITY Act before lawmakers leave Washington for the August recess.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune has pushed to put the bill to a vote even without the 60 votes usually required to defeat a filibuster. “I would like to at least get Clarity started. We’ll see where the votes are,” Thune previously said.
The House of Representatives passed the bill in July 2025, and the Senate Banking Committee advanced it in May 2026 by 15 votes to nine. But the legislation still lacks sufficient Democratic backing, with disputes over ethics standards and consumer protection provisions proving central obstacles.
Republicans have inserted new restrictions on crypto activity by senior elected officials into the latest draft. According to reporting by Crypto in America’s Eleanor Terrett and Punchbowl News’ Brendan Pedersen, the White House sent the proposed ethics language to Republican senators on 20 July, before Democrats had an opportunity to review it.
Under the draft, the president, vice president, members of Congress, federal judges and their spouses would all be covered. Those officials would be banned from issuing or sponsoring digital assets and required either to sell their crypto holdings, place them in a blind trust, or do both.
The measure is written to expire at noon on 20 January 2029, the scheduled end of Trump’s term. It would also allow companies to keep using an official’s name, image or likeness, provided that commercial arrangement was already in place before the official became subject to the new restrictions.
Enforcement row threatens bipartisan deal
Democratic Senator Angela Alsobrooks has objected strongly to the current enforcement design, which relies solely on the Department of Justice to police the ethics provisions, calling that approach “unserious”.
Alsobrooks has said she would vote against the CLARITY Act if the present wording comes to the Senate floor. Her stance is particularly significant because she was one of only two Democrats who supported advancing the bill through the Senate Banking Committee in May.
President Donald Trump accepted the ethics clause earlier this week after Democrats insisted that tighter limits on lawmakers’ crypto activity were a prerequisite for further negotiations. But disagreement over who should enforce those limits has stalled efforts to reach a bipartisan compromise.
Democrats pushed for the conflict-of-interest language after financial disclosures indicated that Trump earned as much as $1.4bn from crypto-related ventures last year. Alsobrooks and Senator Kirsten Gillibrand have told colleagues that the market-structure legislation cannot move forward without clear rules to address potential conflicts.
Investors watch Fireblocks wallets and Senate timetable
For US-based holders of the TRUMP token, the latest transfers into Fireblocks custody add another layer of uncertainty over potential supply shocks at a time when Washington is debating whether elected officials should be allowed ongoing links to token projects.
The Fireblocks transactions stop short of confirming any sales, but Arkham’s note that the same addresses have previously routed TRUMP to BitGo has intensified scrutiny of their possible purpose.
Attention now centres on whether those wallets send further funds to exchanges or other custodians, and on whether negotiators can bridge their differences over Department of Justice enforcement before the Senate departs for its August break.
