Gillibrand Renews Push to Ban Politicians' Meme Coins
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- Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is renewing calls to ban politicians and their spouses from issuing or promoting crypto assets, including meme coins, citing concerns about self-dealing and insider trading.
- President Trump disclosed this week that he earned more than $1.2 billion from crypto last year, including over $635 million from his Solana-based meme coin, with First Lady Melania Trump also benefitting from her own meme coin.
- Gillibrand called the ban a "commonsense requirement" that should get "broad bipartisan support," warning that "self-dealing" must not undermine consumer protections in crypto.
- Gillibrand earlier this year led a bipartisan effort to bar members of Congress from wagering on prediction markets amid insider-trading scrutiny, and has also pushed to ban stock trading by officials while in office.
- The Clarity Act market-structure bill advanced through a key Senate vote in May without finalized ethics provisions for public officials, despite Gillibrand stating the bill would not pass without them.
- Galaxy researchers put the odds of the Clarity Act passing this year at roughly 50-50, citing a lack of legislative time rather than substantive disagreements over the content.
Why it matters: Ethics provisions for the president and his family have become a gating factor for the Clarity Act, the major crypto market-structure bill that Gillibrand says she will not let pass without them. With Senate time running short, Galaxy researchers put this year's passage odds at 50-50, making Gillibrand's red line a potential make-or-break for the legislation.
