Senator Gillibrand Tells Congress: No More Political Memecoins, and Yes, She's Looking at You, Mr. President 🪙

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York renewed her push to bar elected officials, the president, and their spouses from issuing or sponsoring digital assets, framing the restriction as a precondition for advancing the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act through the Senate Banking Committee within the next two weeks. "This is a commonsense requirement that should get broad bipartisan support – public officials and their spouses should not be issuing memecoins," Gillibrand said in a statement. "We cannot let self-dealing destroy an opportunity to strengthen consumer protections, crack down on illicit finance, and expand economic opportunity for the millions of Americans our financial system has left behind." She added: "The time to act is now — and that must include ethics reforms that prohibit members of Congress, the president, and their spouses from cashing in on their office."

The call follows the Office of Government Ethics' release on Tuesday of President Donald Trump's 927-page annual financial disclosure, which reported more than $1.4 billion in crypto-related income for 2025. The largest single line item was $636 million from CIC Digital LLC, tied to the licensing of the Official Trump (TRUMP) memecoin on Solana, with additional income tied to World Liberty Financial (WLFI) licensing agreements and token sales. First Lady Melania Trump reported $6 million from NFTs and digital collectibles, including her own memecoin. Trump has defended the earnings as "nothing illegal" and "nothing wrong."

Gillibrand's proposal mirrors the End Crypto Corruption Act introduced by Senator Jeff Merkley in May 2025, which would bar presidents, lawmakers, senior officials, and their families from issuing or endorsing digital assets, including memecoins and stablecoins. Gillibrand, one of the lead negotiators on the CLARITY Act, said in May that the bill would not pass without an ethics provision addressing Trump's crypto activities and that senators had previously stripped provisions targeting his memecoin during consideration of the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins Act (GENIUS Act), which Trump signed into law in July 2025. She has said no member would back the CLARITY Act without ethics reforms, citing concerns about officials "getting rich off of these industries because of their insider status." The bill's odds of passing this year have slipped to around 50-50 according to Galaxy researchers, who cited a lack of legislative time.

The TRUMP memecoin itself has shed more than 97% from its $73.43 peak set days after its January 2025 launch, trading near $1.80. A New York Times and Nansen analysis found that 988,905 wallets had collectively lost $3.81 billion in Official Trump (TRUMP) holdings as of the end of June, counting both realized and unrealized losses. Economist Peter Schiff this week described the tokens as "legal bribes," arguing that buyers are paying for access to the president.

Gillibrand, a longtime advocate of banning stock trading by lawmakers and a leader of a bipartisan effort to bar members of Congress from wagering on prediction markets, faces scrutiny of her own. Her son Theodore Gillibrand, 22, raised $30 million at a $300 million valuation for his startup American Perpetuals Exchange Corp, a perpetual futures venue seeking approval from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to list perpetual futures on stocks and indexes. The senator said the company is independent and that she is not involved, though critics argue the raise complicates her anti-self-dealing message as she negotiates crypto legislation.