Summary

  • Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is advocating for a prohibition on politicians and their spouses from creating or endorsing cryptocurrency assets, particularly meme coins.
  • This week, President Donald Trump revealed that he had generated over $1.2 billion from cryptocurrency last year, with more than $635 million coming from his Solana-based meme coin.
  • Gillibrand's initiative is part of a wider ethics campaign, where she has also sought to limit congressional trading in prediction markets and stocks, raising concerns over self-dealing and insider trading.

In light of President Donald Trump's recent announcement of earning upwards of $1.2 billion from his cryptocurrency activities last year, New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is renewing her push to prohibit politicians and their spouses from both issuing and promoting digital assets.

This proposed ban would include meme coins, from which both Trump and First Lady Melania Trump profited last year, with the president reportedly making over $635 million from his Solana-based meme coin alone.

Gillibrand stated, “This is a commonsense requirement that should garner wide bipartisan support—public officials and their spouses should not be issuing meme coins.”

She added, “We cannot allow self-dealing to undermine efforts to enhance consumer protections, combat illicit finance, and broaden economic opportunities for the millions of Americans who have been overlooked by our financial system.”

As one of the most crypto-friendly Democratic senators, Gillibrand is spearheading an ethical initiative regarding congressional actions. Earlier this year, she led a bipartisan movement to prevent members of Congress from engaging in prediction market wagering amid increasing concerns over potential insider trading, including allegations involving individuals close to the White House profiting from confidential information.

Additionally, she has been advocating for a ban on stock trading by public officials while they serve in office.

“The time to act is now—and this must include ethics reforms that prevent members of Congress, the president, and their spouses from profiting from their positions,” she stated.

Ethical considerations have also been a contentious topic in the discussion surrounding a significant piece of crypto legislation, the Clarity Act market structure bill. In May, the senator indicated that the bill would not advance without an ethics clause relevant to President Trump's actions.

However, as the bill progressed through a crucial Senate vote, an agreement on ethical guidelines for public officials had not yet been finalized. Despite this, the chances of the bill passing this year have dropped to approximately 50-50 according to researchers at Galaxy, who attributed this to a lack of time rather than content issues.