Senate: Stop Trump’s Crypto Grift

Senate Banking Committee considers digital market legislation

The Honorable Tim Scott, Chair
The Honorable Elizabeth Warren, Ranking Member
Honorable Members
U.S. Senate Banking Committee
Washington, D.C. 20510

Re: Ethics Requirements in Digital Asset Market Structure Legislation

Dear Chair, Ranking Member, and Members of the Committee,
On behalf of more than one million members and supporters of Public Citizen, we ask the Senate Banking Committee to establish strict ethics guardrails in digital market legislation. This must include prohibitions on federally elected officials, including the president, from engaging in any cryptocurrency venture. President Trump’s expansive ventures into crypto already violate several existing laws. Approving a bill that fails to confront these violations would explicitly declare that lawmakers countenance such infractions.
Specifically, we ask that any bill must include the following:
• Ban any form of crypto issuance, ownership, sponsorship, promotion, endorsement, and/or profiteering by a federally elected official, including the president and any family members.
• Require divestiture from any existing crypto venture. All proceeds must be disgorged and deposited in the U.S. Treasury or returned to investors.
• Establish civil and/or criminal monetary penalties for future infractions that must be two times the value of profits. The Attorney General shall bring a civil action against an individual in violation of these bans.
• Penalize crypto quid-pro-quo. Any federally elected official, including the president, who, directly or indirectly, corruptly demands, seeks, receives, accepts, or agrees to receive or accept anything of value personally, including crypto-related transactions, in return for the performance of any official act, shall be fined for at least two times the monetary equivalent of the thing of value, whichever is greater, or imprisoned for not more than five years, or both.

Trump’s crypto abuses include violations of anti-bribery statues, conflicts-of-interest laws, along with acts prohibited by the U.S. Constitution. Promotion of his meme coin constitutes a solicitation of a gift, which is a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 201. Trump pardoned a confessed money launderer after that individual transferred millions of dollars to one of the president’s crypto ventures. The president may neither solicit nor receive a bribe under 18 U.S.C. § 201. Trump accepted hundreds of millions of dollars from more than one foreign government for his crypto ventures, including his meme coin venture and a stablecoin. Four days before Trump took office, an entity controlled by the national security adviser of the United Arab Emirates purchased a 49% stake in a fledgling Trump crypto venture, putting $187 million into the coffers of the Trump family. The Constitution’s emoluments clause (Article 1, Section 9) prohibits acceptance of anything of value from a foreign government. These count as only a few of Trump’s illegal corruptions. Public Citizen recently documented Trump’s byzantine conflicts involving Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, which admitted to ignoring anti-money-laundering laws in 2023. Binance, however, has continued to help Iranian crypto traders skirt sanctions, according to recent media reports. Yet, at the same time Trump exposes American soldiers to the perils of war in Iran, his crypto venture is looking to increase its relationship with Binance.
By his own disclaimers, Trump’s crypto ventures do not fall within his official acts as president, and therein do not enjoy immunity provided by a Supreme Court decision.
An independent Attorney General (AG) would assign a special counsel to examine Trump’s corruption, paving the way for a post-presidential prosecution. This Department of Justice does not operate independent of Trump’s bidding. A clear-eyed Congress would impeach and convict Trump for these massive infractions. The current congressional majority remains blindered.
But responsible members of this committee cannot abdicate their obligation to prohibit this or any president from illegal profiteering as it considers any legislation.
Recently, the Senate unanimously approved a ban on its members participating in bets on prediction markets. Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio), the principal sponsor, explained, “United States senators have no business engaging in speculative activities like prediction markets while collecting a taxpayer-funded paycheck, period.”
Such laudable standards must also apply to the president and his crypto abuses.

For questions, please contact Bartlett Naylor at bnaylor@citizen.org.

Sincerely,

Public Citizen