The National Sheriffs’ Association is dropping its opposition to landmark cryptocurrency legislation after months of pushing back on it, clearing away one of the objections hanging over a Senate vote later this month.
A shift to neutral
The group lays out the change in a letter to lawmakers going out today, a copy of which an administration official shared with Semafor.
The letter reads:
“Given the complexity of the legislation and the number of important details that remain under consideration, the NSA is changing its position on the CLARITY Act to neutral.”
Rather than keep fighting the measure, the association said it would stand aside:
“[W]e believe the most appropriate course is to step back and allow the legislative process to proceed.”
Months of resistance
Other law enforcement groups had already thrown their weight behind the bill, which left the sheriffs as the most visible holdout.
As recently as July, the association doubled down on its warning that the proposal carried significant law enforcement and public safety risks and would make illicit finance harder to prosecute.
That argument landed with Democrats such as Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada, whose support is needed to move the bill forward.
What still stands in the way
The reversal takes one source of friction off the table, though not the biggest one.
Lawmakers still have not settled how to restrict the president’s ability to profit from digital assets, a fight that snarled the legislation in the Senate at the end of July.
