Sponsor
Michael F. Bennet
Senator · D-CO
The bill sharply reduces real and perceived crypto-related conflicts of interest through bans, blind trusts, and stronger enforcement, but does so at the cost of forced divestments that can cause financial harm, broader criminal exposure that may chill activity, and potential privacy intrusions for officials.
Federal candidates and officials are barred from buying, selling, or holding digital assets while running, serving, and for 1 year after, and must place holdings into qualified blind trusts with trustee divestment within 6 months, reducing conflicts of interest and protecting taxpayers from self-dealing.
The bill adds the FEC as a supervising ethics office and creates civil and criminal penalties (fines, disgorgement, and lengthy prison terms for major violations), strengthening oversight and deterring misuse of public office for crypto gain.
Requiring qualified blind trusts with trustee divestment and public filings increases financial transparency about officials' digital-asset arrangements, making conflicts easier to detect and audit.
Covered individuals must divest or transfer digital-asset holdings within 6 months — potentially forcing sales at unfavorable prices, creating immediate taxable events, and (because the definition includes aggregated vehicles like funds/ETFs) unintentionally barring officials from common diversified retirement or institutional investments.
Broad criminal exposure (felony offenses with lengthy prison terms) for violations could chill legitimate investment activity by officials, create heavy legal risk and adversarial enforcement disputes, and discourage qualified candidates from public service.
Public posting of blind trust agreements and related filings may disclose sensitive financial details about officials or trustees, raising privacy concerns and potential security risks for those individuals.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Prohibits covered federal officials and candidates from transacting in digital assets unless placed in an approved blind trust, with reporting and stiff penalties for violations.
Senator · D-CO
Official title: Prohibit certain individuals from engaging in prohibited financial transactions, and for other purposes.
Introduced May 19, 2025 by Michael F. Bennet · Last progress May 19, 2025
Prohibits high-level federal officials and candidates for federal office from directly holding, trading, sponsoring, or otherwise transacting in digital assets while campaigning, while in office, and for one year after leaving office unless those assets are placed in a qualified blind trust approved by the relevant ethics office. Establishes reporting, trustee divestment and certification rules, adds the FEC as an ethics supervisor for candidates, creates civil and criminal penalties for violations, and treats prohibited transactions as unofficial acts for immunity purposes.