To establish certain digital asset prohibitions with respect to elected Government officials, and for other purposes.
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
IntroducedMs. Waters (for herself, Mr. Foster, Ms. Tlaib, Mrs. Beatty, …
Summary
What This Bill Does
The Stop TRUMP in Crypto Act prohibits the President, Vice President, Members of Congress, and their immediate family members from owning, trading, or profiting from cryptocurrencies and other digital assets while in office. It addresses concerns about conflicts of interest that could arise when officials who regulate cryptocurrency markets also hold or trade these assets.
Who Benefits and How
Voters and transparency advocates benefit from reduced conflicts of interest in cryptocurrency policy-making. The general public and investors gain protection from the risk that government officials might use their positions to manipulate cryptocurrency markets for personal profit. Ethics watchdogs benefit from having clearer anti-corruption standards for digital asset holdings, making it easier to detect and prevent potential abuses of power in the emerging crypto sector.
Who Bears the Burden and How
The President, Vice President, and Members of Congress who currently own digital assets must divest these holdings or face criminal penalties. Their spouses, children, sons-in-law, and daughters-in-law face the same restrictions, meaning entire families cannot participate in cryptocurrency markets while a family member holds federal office. Cryptocurrency exchanges, digital wallet providers, and SEC-reporting companies that issue digital assets must ensure they don't facilitate transactions for covered individuals, creating new compliance obligations. Trust administrators and legal service providers managing assets for government officials must verify that no digital assets are held directly or indirectly through beneficial ownership arrangements.
Key Provisions
- Prohibits covered individuals from owning controlling stakes in any cryptocurrency or serving as officers or directors of crypto companies
- Bans covered individuals from receiving any compensation for promoting, marketing, or mining digital assets
- Prohibits insider trading of digital assets by government officials with material non-public information
- Prevents circumvention through trusts, corporations, or other intermediaries by defining beneficial ownership to include indirect control or 5%+ ownership stakes
- Applies criminal penalties under Title 18 USC Section 216 (same penalties as other conflict of interest violations)
- Covers a comprehensive definition of digital assets including cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, memecoins, NFTs, DAO tokens, DeFi products, and crypto derivatives
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
Prohibit the President, Vice President, Members of Congress, and their family members from owning, trading, or profiting from digital assets (cryptocurrencies) to prevent conflicts of interest
Policy Domains
Legislative Strategy
"Address ethical concerns about government officials profiting from cryptocurrency while in positions to influence cryptocurrency policy and regulation"
Likely Beneficiaries
- Voters concerned about conflicts of interest
- Transparency advocates
- Critics of government officials trading on insider information
Likely Burden Bearers
- President, Vice President, Members of Congress who own digital assets
- Family members of covered individuals who own or trade digital assets
- Digital asset issuers who may be restricted from transacting with covered individuals
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "SEC"
- → Securities and Exchange Commission
- "covered_individuals"
- → President, Vice President, Members of Congress, and their spouses, children, sons-in-law, and daughters-in-law
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
The President, the Vice President, a Member of Congress, or the spouse, child, son-in-law, or daughter-in-law of any of those individuals
Any digital representation of value recorded on a cryptographically-secured distributed ledger, including stablecoins, memecoins, futures/options/swaps referencing digital assets, securities or trusts whose primary assets are digital assets, yield-bearing digital asset products, NFTs, and DAO tokens
Technology where data is shared across a network creating a digital ledger of verified transactions, typically linked using cryptography
A Senator, Representative, Delegate, or Resident Commissioner to Congress
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology