New legislation follows reports of President Trump’s crypto-related conflicts of interest
Washington, D.C. – Oregon’s U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) spearheaded a brand-new effort to crack down on cryptocurrency-related corruption by elected officials at the highest levels of the federal government.
Merkley’s End Crypto Corruption Act bans the President, Vice President, Senior Executive Branch Officials, Members of Congress, and their immediate families from financially benefiting from issuing, endorsing, or sponsoring crypto assets, such as meme coins and stablecoins. As story after story trickles out about President Trump’s crypto deals and his mounting conflicts of interest, the End Crypto Corruption Act directly addresses and curbs the Trump Administration’s apparent corruption.
“Currently, people who wish to cultivate influence with the president can enrich him personally by buying cryptocurrency he owns or controls,” said Senator Merkley. “This is a profoundly corrupt scheme. It endangers our national security and erodes public trust in government. Let’s end this corruption immediately.”
“Donald Trump’s attempts at grift and corruption are well known and well documented. And right now individuals can curry favor with this White House and make money for Trump by purchasing his digital assets. Senate Democrats aren’t going to stand by and let Donald Trump put our national security and consumers at risk so he can make money off the Office of the Presidency. Our democracy shouldn’t be for sale,” said Leader Schumer.
Previously, Merkley and Ranking Member of the Senate Banking Committee Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) sent a letter to Office of Government Ethics Acting Director Jamieson Greer to raise significant concerns about a billion-dollar deal between a Trump-backed crypto company and a foreign crypto firm. The deal appears to enrich President Trump, his family, and members of his administration.
The End Crypto Corruption Act is cosponsored by Ranking Member Warren and U.S. Senators Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Jack Reed (D-RI), Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Andy Kim (D-NJ), Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT).
Democracy Defenders Action and Public Citizen have endorsed the End Crypto Corruption Act.
“The cryptocurrency industry is desperately in need of regulation—but not at the expense of allowing it to become an effective tool for corruption,” said Virginia Canter, Anticorruption and Ethics Chief Counsel and Director at Democracy Defenders Action. “It’s critical that we prevent public officials like the President and members of Congress from offering volatile and novel assets that create an unacceptable conflict of interest risk. By prohibiting these officials from issuing digital assets —and including similar language in all cryptocurrency legislation—Congress will demonstrate that their focus, and the focus of all public servants, remains squarely on the needs and interests of the nation, not on the profits they can make from encouraging others to speculate in the highly volatile digital marketplace.”
Full text of the End Crypto Corruption Act can be found by clicking here.
This press release has been updated.
###
English 
Spanish