Do Members of U.S. Congress Own Crypto?

 Crypto for Congress

The past 1 year is the first time members of Congress entered the world of cryptocurrency. For representatives, 2021 will not only be the first year of legislative restraint on the cryptocurrency market, but also the first time cryptocurrencies have entered their portfolios.

The average age of representatives of the 117th Congress is 58.4 years old, and the average age of senators is 64.3 years old. Although it looks older, judging from related news and disclosures, age has not become an obstacle for some of them to learn about the crypto world.

A total of 6 members of Congress disclosed their involvement in cryptocurrency transactions in the filing records, including 4 members of the House of Representatives and 2 members of the senators, who are:

Federal House of Representatives:

  1. Felix Barry Moore: Invested $45k in ADA and $15k in ETH
  2. Mary Newman: Invested up to $50,000 in GBTC
  3. Mark Green: About $15,000 to $30,000 were bought and sold on BAT, CELO, DOGE, EOS, ETC, LINK, and XLM, respectively.
  4. Mike Waltz: Bought up to $100,000 in BTC

Federal Senator:

  1. Pat Toomey: Invested up to $15k each in ETHE and GBTC
  2. Cynthia Marie Lummis: Invested $100K in BTC

These six members of Congress made a total of 25 deals in 2021.

In addition to directly buying and selling digital currency, more members of Congress indirectly hold encrypted assets in the form of investing in the stocks of cryptocurrency-related companies or purchasing financial products.

According to reports, Rep. Jeff Van Drew's filing shows that he has a trust asset valued at $250,000 that is being operated by Grayscale. As we all know, Grayscale is one of the largest crypto asset management companies in the world.

Republican Rep. Barry Moore invested as much as $15,000 in an Alabama brokerage firm, according to the report. His financial disclosure describes the company as a "cryptocurrency broker." His office did not respond to media requests for comment on which of his brokerage firms. His disclosure said the company paid dividends of between $2,501 and $5,000 in 2020.

Jim Newman, the husband of Democratic Rep. Mary Newman, had at least 16 disclosed transactions in Coinbase stock. The most recent transaction was in November last year for a sale valued at $50,001 to $100,000. Also last November, Newman's husband bought up to $50,000 worth of Grayscale's trust products.

Among them, the purchase of $100,000 by Republican Senator Cynthia Ramis in August last year caused a lot of controversy.

Ramis is a member of the Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban-Rural Development. According to the disclosure in January 2021, he held bitcoins worth between $50,000 and $10 (the currency value in January 2021) at this point in time. Accumulated up to $100,000 worth of Bitcoin (August 2021 value). The Senator's Office responded to the media Insider's inquiry: "The Senator's investment behavior complies with the relevant federal laws and the Senate Code of Ethics on the disclosure of financial behavior." However, this did not dispel the outside world's doubts about her investment behavior. In particular, her committee is one of a potential Senate committee with jurisdiction over cryptoassets.

It is worth mentioning that in 2016 Congress established a bipartisan "Congressional Blockchain Caucus (Caucus)" to discuss blockchain and cryptocurrency-related issues. Republican Tom Emer, one of the current caucus leaders, said his first exposure to cryptocurrency came in 2015 or 2016 in a book borrowed by his staff (“The Age of Cryptocurrency”). According to public disclosures, he does not directly hold or invest in any cryptocurrency.

Crypto Goes On to Capital Hill

Relative to members of the public figures, the congressional staff in Congress who are responsible for providing various services and consulting work for members of Congress have paid no less attention to cryptocurrencies.

According to Insider, they can identify 21 senior congressional staffers or their spouses who bought or sold cryptocurrencies in 2020 and 2021, including BTC, ETH, and DOGE.

Under federal law, officers and other relevant employees of Congress are required to promptly report all their stock transactions and other outside income if their annual income exceeds $132,552. This figure is usually the minimum salary for congress chiefs of staff; in addition to chiefs of staff, other senior staff above this figure include chief counsels (chief counsels), legislative directors (legislative directors), and staff who work on committees and advise legislators on policy.

The extent to which other lower-paid Capitol Hill office employees hold cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrency-related stocks is unknown because they were not required to disclose

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