Congress bans itself from crypto: officials face 18 years for digital-asset trades

What it does

This bill prohibits federal elected officials and candidates from buying, selling, holding, or endorsing digital assets (cryptocurrency and similar blockchain-based instruments) during their campaign, term of office, and for one year after leaving office. Officials may comply by placing any existing digital assets into a qualified blind trust that must divest within 6 months. Violations carry civil penalties up to $250,000, disgorgement of profits, and criminal penalties up to 18 years imprisonment if the violation causes $1M+ in losses or the official profits from it.

Why we flagged it

The bill's core mechanism is a conflict-of-interest prohibition on federal officials' personal digital-asset transactions, enforced through civil and criminal penalties. It is a straightforward ethics measure, not a market intervention or industry carve-out.

What the text implies

• The 1-year post-service restriction may deter officials from crypto investments even after leaving office, extending the ethics regime beyond active service.
• Qualified blind trust requirement forces divestment within 6 months, eliminating a common ethics workaround (passive holding in a trust) and creating a hard deadline.
• Criminal penalties (up to 18 years) are severe relative to typical financial-conduct violations, signaling Congress views crypto conflicts as serious.
• Reporting requirement (public disclosure of blind trust agreements) creates transparency but may expose trust structures to public scrutiny and potential targeting.
• Definition of 'digital asset' is broad and technology-neutral, capturing future blockchain instruments not yet invented, making the rule durable but potentially over-inclusive.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

The bill restricts federal officials' ability to profit from or promote digital assets while in power, reducing conflicts of interest and the risk that officials will use their positions to enrich themselves through crypto holdings or endorsements. Citizens benefit from clearer ethics rules and enforcement mechanisms that hold officials accountable.

Named in the bill

President, Vice President, United States Senator, United States Representative, Delegate to Congress, Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico, Attorney General, Federal Election Commission, Supervising ethics offices

Where it stands

• Jun 9, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Jun 9, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on House Administration and House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform · Congress.gov: “Referred to the Committee on Financial Services, and in addition to the Committees on Oversight and…”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

1 lobbying clients named this bill on 1 disclosure filings across 1 quarter, Jun 2026 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $410,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 166 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.

More lobbying clients named this bill than 0% of bills with at least one filing.

Joe Neguse, the sponsor, reported $1,103,729 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• American Federation of Teachers — $410,000 on 1 filing

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.