Sponsors (22)
The bill increases transparency and reduces conflicts of interest and illicit crypto use by broadly defining covered assets and expanding disclosure and look‑through rules, but it imposes substantial compliance costs, raises privacy concerns, and may chill crypto innovation while affecting some lawful political and private financial activities.
Federal employees and the public: the bill bars covered officials from using public office to benefit from or control digital assets, reducing conflicts of interest and strengthening public trust in government and markets.
Taxpayers and financial firms: the bill closes loopholes and treats indirect owners/controllers as subject to prohibitions and disclosure, making it harder to hide prohibited digital-asset transactions and improving enforcement consistency.
Tech workers, firms, and users: the bill clarifies which digital assets (stablecoins, memecoins, NFTs, DeFi products, DAO tokens, derivatives) and which public officials/relatives are covered, reducing legal uncertainty about coverage and enforcement scope.
Financial institutions, nonprofits, small businesses, and some organizations: the bill's broad definitions and look-through rules will raise compliance, legal, and operational costs across many actors who must trace ownership and activity.
Taxpayers, immigrants, and privacy-conscious individuals: expanded 'look-through' and broad control definitions require tracing private wallets and trust interests, creating significant financial-privacy intrusions.
Tech workers, developers, and crypto startups: the very broad sweep of digital-asset definitions may chill innovation in crypto and DeFi by increasing regulatory uncertainty and raising barriers to product development.
Based on analysis of 4 sections of legislative text.
Introduced May 21, 2025 by Maxine Waters · Last progress May 21, 2025
Prohibits the President, Vice President, Members of Congress, and certain close relatives from owning, controlling, trading, promoting, or receiving compensation tied to digital assets, including stablecoins, memecoins, NFTs, DeFi products, and derivatives. It also blocks covered individuals from using intermediaries, wallets, trusts, or other arrangements to conceal ownership or benefits and applies criminal penalties for violations under existing federal ethics statutes. The Act defines covered persons and digital assets, imposes a look-through/beneficial-ownership rule for entities and trusts, and prevents certain issuers required to file Exchange Act reports from transacting in digital assets on behalf of covered individuals. The bill focuses on preventing conflicts of interest, insider trading, and concealed financial interests in crypto for high-level federal officials and their close family members.