Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, one of the US lawmakers behind congressional negotiations on the Digital Assets Market Structure Act, has proposed banning elected officials and the president from issuing or sponsoring their own tokens, citing President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump’s memecoins.
In Friday’s notice, Gillibrand he said that Congress should support measures prohibiting elected officials and their spouses from “issuing or sponsoring their own digital assets.” The New York lawmaker said the proposed restriction would apply to any U.S. president and his or her spouse, but did not specifically mention extending the provision to the vice president or other members of their family.
“This is a common-sense requirement that should receive broad bipartisan support – public officials and their spouses should not issue memecoins,” Gillibrand said. “We cannot allow self-interest to destroy the opportunity to strengthen consumer protections, crack down on illicit finance and expand economic opportunities for millions of Americans who have been left behind by our financial system.”
Source: Kirsten Gillibrand
Gillibrand is one of the lawmakers behind Senate negotiations of the Digital Assets Market Transparency (CLARITY) Act, legislation that has faced delays due to concerns about ethics, tokenization and stablecoin rewards. While she expected the House to vote on the bill by the August Senate term, she added that no one would vote for the bill without raising ethical issues, citing the power of elected officials.[getting] gets prosperous in these industries because of their confidential status.”
Related: Senate Democrats are calling for an investigation into the $500 million crypto deal between the Trumps in the United Arab Emirates
While considering the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stable Coins Act (GENIUS Act) in 2025, the New York legislature said senators removed provisions regarding Trump’s ties to the cryptocurrency industry, including his official Trump memecoin (TRUMP).
She said at the time that memecoin was likely “illegal under current law,” but that solving all of Trump’s ethical problems would require a “very long and detailed bill.” Trump signed the GENIUS Act into law in July 2025.
Notably, Gillibrand’s proposed memecoin restriction did not appear to extend to other family members. In addition to his personal investments in the crypto industry, Trump has faced criticism over his sons’ involvement in crypto platform World Liberty Financial and their Bitcoin (BTC) mining company American Bitcoin.
Trump dismisses concerns about conflict of interest with the cryptocurrency industry
This week, Trump reported that he made about $1.4 billion from crypto ventures the same year he took office. The unexpected financial success came as it impacted digital asset legislation, including the GENIUS and CLARITY Acts.
Trump said there was “nothing illegal” and “nothing wrong” with profiting from his investments as president, although he did not directly answer questions about perceived conflicts of interest.
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