A new piece of legislation, designed to prevent senior government officials from endorsing or issuing cryptocurrencies, has been introduced by a cohort of 20 Democratic Senators. This move is in response to growing apprehension over former President Trump’s involvement in the crypto industry.
Coined the “End Crypto Corruption Act of 2025”, this proposed law would restrict the President, Vice President, Congress members, Senate-confirmed appointees, and certain special government employees within the Executive Office, including their spouses and dependent children, from sponsoring, issuing, or endorsing any digital assets or cryptocurrencies. One such special employee includes Elon Musk and the rest of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team, although Musk recently stated that the department does not intend to use the DOGE meme cryptocurrency officially.
While the proposed law would allow regular sale transactions, it imposes hefty fines and potential jail time for violators. The bill would remain applicable to government officials and their families during their tenure and for one year thereafter. The bill, introduced on May 7, mirrors similar legislation presented in the House earlier this year and comes as an answer to the ongoing political discord over the Senate’s stablecoin bill. Some Senate Democrats have voiced their disapproval of the bill in its current form, accusing Republicans of noncompliance on crucial matters such as anti-money laundering legislation and oversight of foreign issuers.
The aim of the proposed legislation is to stop former President Trump and his wife, Melania, from profiting from their meme cryptocurrencies, which were launched just before Trump’s inauguration. Recently, $TRUMP saw an increase in trading volume after Trump announced that its top holders would be personally invited to a White House dinner, raising conflict of interest questions among some Democrats.
However, it remains unclear whether Trump’s role as the “chief crypto advocate” at World Liberty Financial, a firm closely associated with his sons and other high-ranking administration officials, would be prohibited under the current version of the bill. Senate Democrats have recently expressed concerns over a planned $2 billion deal between an investment firm in Abu Dhabi and Binance involving the firm’s WLD1 stablecoins.
“The company’s compliance obligations are now even more urgent, given recent reports of Binance using the Trump family’s stablecoin to partner with foreign investment firms,” a group of Democratic Senators noted last week. Senator Elissa Slotkin (MI), a co-sponsor of the bill, told Michigan Advance that the urgency of preventing Trump from profiting from his meme cryptocurrency takes precedence over general crypto regulation.
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