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Prohibits certain high-level federal officials and specified family members from owning, controlling, trading, or receiving compensation tied to digital assets, including indirect holdings. It also prevents covered individuals from using other people or entities (trusts, companies, wallets, nonprofits) they control to evade the ban, defines who counts as a beneficial owner, and sets criminal penalties for violations. The bill also defines key terms such as “covered individual,” “digital asset,” and “distributed ledger,” and bars SEC-reporting companies from transacting digital assets on behalf of covered individuals.
A covered individual may not own a proportion of a digital asset that would allow the individual to unilaterally make changes to the digital asset.
A covered individual may not serve as an officer, director, or owner of a digital asset issuer.
A covered individual may not issue, sponsor, promote, or receive any direct or indirect compensation, including fees, for the sale, marketing, or mining of any digital asset in the United States or to a United States person.
A covered individual may not trade digital assets while in office if the individual has material non-public information about digital assets.
An issuer required to file reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission under section 13 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 may not issue, sell, or otherwise transact with respect to a digital asset on behalf of a covered individual.
Primary impacts: Covered federal officials and specified family members must identify, divest, or otherwise sever control of prohibited digital-asset holdings. That creates an administrative and legal compliance burden for those individuals and their financial advisers. Custodians, exchanges, custodial wallets, and SEC‑reporting companies will need screening and compliance mechanisms to block or refuse transactions on behalf of covered individuals, which could mean adding identity verification and beneficiary‑control checks. Trusts, nominee accounts, and entities used to hold digital assets will face increased scrutiny under the beneficial‑owner test; many arrangements may need restructuring or disclosure to ensure they are not treated as controlled by a covered individual.
Agencies and enforcement: Ethics offices, federal prosecutors, and regulators will be responsible for investigating violations and applying criminal penalties. The rule barring SEC‑reporting companies from transacting on behalf of covered individuals could affect corporate treasury practices and payroll/compensation arrangements involving digital assets.
Industry effects: Cryptocurrency exchanges, custodians, wallet providers, and legal/trust advisors will see new demand for compliance services and interpretation of beneficial‑owner tests. Some covered individuals may divest or avoid using certain crypto services entirely, which could reduce uptake among that small group but likely has limited effect on the broader market.
Other public impacts: The bill tightens conflict‑of‑interest rules for leaders who might receive gifts, payments, or other influence-linked benefits via digital assets, improving transparency and reducing perceived or real conflicts. It also raises privacy and implementation questions, since tracing indirect holdings—particularly self‑custodied wallets and decentralized finance arrangements—can be technically complex and may require new reporting or investigative tools.
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Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.
Introduced May 21, 2025 by Maxine Waters · Last progress May 21, 2025
Referred to the House Committee on Financial Services.
Introduced in House