The CLARITY Act is not a panacea: Anthony Scaramucci on the systemic problem of insider trading in the US
Former White House Communications Director and SkyBridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci criticized the new ban on cryptocurrency issuance for federal officials, enshrined in the Clarity Act. In his view, these measures are merely a cosmetic gesture that does not address the root of the problem: rampant insider trading in Congress.
Speaking on CNBC, Scaramucci stated that the issue lies in the current compensation system in the U.S. Congress. According to him, the annual salary of $180,000 for members of Congress is a "powder keg" that forces lawmakers to find ways to monetize the confidential information they receive while in office. He suggested looking to Singapore's model, where government officials are paid multi-million-dollar salaries in exchange for strict ethical oversight.
The Pelosi Problem
Scaramucci's position is based on telling statistics. Public trading reports show that the portfolio of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, managed by her husband Paul Pelosi, has consistently outperformed the S&P 500 index and Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway fund for many years.
According to 2024 disclosures, Pelosi earned 70.9% compared to the benchmark's 24.9%. Her cumulative income since 2014 exceeds the index's performance by thousands of percentage points. Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna previously accused Pelosi of insider trading, but no formal charges have been filed.
A Familiar Pattern
Scaramucci also recalled an attempt to weaken oversight of trading in Congress. According to him, lawmakers once rolled back transparency measures through a procedural vote to avoid broad debate on the issue.
This comparison is backed by facts. In April 2012, Congress passed the STOCK Act, which banned trading based on non-public information, but a year later removed the requirement to publish employee trades in an online database, passing the amendment through unanimous consent without a roll-call vote.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent previously proposed reinstating stricter restrictions on stock trading for lawmakers.
"They can't afford two apartments... they have plenty of loopholes, a ton of trips, and many other ways to get money," Anthony Scaramucci concluded in his CNBC interview.
The updated Clarity Act already bans the president and other federal officials from issuing or promoting digital assets. However, as Scaramucci rightly notes, this law is merely a compromise on ethics, unviable from the start. It remains unclear whether Congress will apply the same approach to its own stock trades—time to make a decision before the August recess is running out.
My analysis: The ban on cryptocurrencies could set a precedent for other restrictions. However, getting Scaramucci's other demands approved will be difficult, as Congress has resisted change for over a decade. Insider trading is not a technical problem but a cultural one, and without changing the compensation system and achieving real transparency, no law will solve it.