Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), the top Democrat on the powerful House Financial Services Committee, introduced legislation Thursday that would prevent the president, the vice president, members of Congress, and their immediate family members from launching or owning their own crypto assets while in office.
The “Stop TRUMP in Crypto Act of 2025” is, in name and by design, explicitly targeted at President Donald Trump, who, along with his business partners, has made billions of dollars in unrealized gains on numerous crypto ventures since returning to power.
A spokesperson for Rep. Waters on the House Financial Service Committee confirmed to Decrypt that the bill was intentionally introduced today to call attention to a private dinner Trump is set to have this evening with the top 220 holders of his meme coin. Press is barred from attending the event.
“Donald Trump is preparing to dine with the top donors of his memecoin who’ve made him, and his family, richer,” Waters said in a statement shared with Decrypt. “For all we know, Russia, China, or even North Korea could be buying Trump’s crypto to secure favors from the White House.”
“Enough is enough,” she added. “Congress can no longer ignore the biggest scam and abuse of power in American history.”
It has not been publicly disclosed who, exactly, will be attending Trump’s crypto dinner tonight. Democrats have expressed concern for weeks that foreign actors could take advantage of the situation by, effectively, buying access to Trump’s ear in a manner otherwise prohibited by U.S. campaign finance laws. One confirmed attendee of the dinner is Chinese-born crypto billionaire Justin Sun, who was previously under investigation by the Department of Justice for suspected financial crimes, and was sued by the SEC in 2023 for alleged fraud and market manipulation.
In recent months, Sun has not only purchased over $22 million worth of Trump’s meme coin, but also invested tens of millions of dollars in another Trump family crypto venture, World Liberty Financial. In February, the SEC requested its case against Sun be paused and announced a desire to explore a “potential resolution” in its litigation against the controversial crypto founder.
The bill introduced today would forbid Trump, while in office, from issuing, sponsoring, promoting, or receiving any compensation from the “sale, marketing, or mining or any digital asset in the United States.” It would also prevent him from trading any digital assets, while president, that he has material non-public information about.
The legislation would also apply these rules to the president’s spouse, his children, and his children’s spouses. In the last six months, First Lady Melania Trump launched her own meme coin, and Trump’s sons, Eric and Don Jr., have aggressively invested in all manner of crypto startups.
The bill is currently co-sponsored by 14 of the 23 other Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee, in addition to Ranking Member Waters.
As crypto-related legislation makes its way through Congress, Trump’s perceived crypto-related conflicts of interest have threatened to derail several bills which would, for the first time, offer formal legal pathways for issuing and trading various digital assets in the United States. Those efforts appear as of this week to be back on track, though the president’s crypto dealings—unaddressed in current versions of the legislation—certainly remain a thorn in the side of the bills’ sponsors.
Earlier this month, Rep. Waters led a Democrat walkout of a crypto-focused meeting of the House Financial Services Committee in protest of “Trump’s crypto corruption.” At the time, Waters told Decrypt the intention of the stunt was to compel lawmakers to add language to crypto regulation bills that would force Trump to divest from his crypto businesses while in office.
With those requests still unheeded by Republicans and pro-crypto Democrats, Waters has now opted to craft her own legislation on the subject. Similar bills targeting the president’s crypto activities, including the MEME Act, have already been introduced in Congress this year. None have yet managed to attract any Republican support.
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