California Democratic Senator Adam Schiff has introduced the Curbing Officials' Income and Nondisclosure Act (COIN Act), a bill that would prohibit the president, vice president and their immediate family members from engaging in any cryptocurrency-related activity while in office.
"The use of the presidency by Donald Trump for personal purposes raises serious ethical, legal and constitutional concerns," Schiff said referring to his crypto operations.
Today I introduced a bill to crack down on Trump's corrupt crypto scheme.
- Adam Schiff (@AdamSchiff) June 23, 2025
No president - or their family - should use their office to get rich at the expense of the American people.
The bill would completely ban the president and his family members from creating, promoting or sponsoring cryptocurrencies, including memecoin, NFT and stablecoin.
It would also impose a requirement to report sales of digital assets worth more than $1,000, regardless of the position held by the person.
Violations would be punishable by fines equal to the ill-gotten gains and up to five years' imprisonment, including for the acting president.
The introduction of the COIN Act appears controversial, considering that just a week ago Schiff voted in favour of the legislative initiative Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS Act), which creates a regulatory framework for stablecoins in the United States, but does not impose restrictions on the president and vice president.
The Democrats Divided On Crypto Profits After Trump's Entries That Trigger Legislative Reactions
Despite protests from some Democrats about the lack of restrictions on senior officials, the bill still passed the Senate. Schiff and 17 other Democrats supported it, unleashing a wave of criticism.
Nine Democratic senators are now co-authors of the COIN Act, seven of whom had already supported the GENIUS Act.
Remember that, according to recently published financial reports, US President Donald Trump earned nearly $58 million in 2024 from cryptocurrency-related projects, particularly from WLFI tokens. That sum is second only to its earnings in the hotel industry.
A new token sale worth $390 million is expected in 2025, on top of revenues generated by its own memecoin launched in January.
In addition, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has approved Trump Media and Technology Group's application to register 85 million shares tied to a bitcoin custody initiative worth $2.3 billion.
The Modern Emotions and Malfeasance Enforcement (MEME) Act, created by Californian Democratic Congressman Sam Liccardo in February this year, also bans politicians and their families from making money from cryptocurrencies.
With the same goal in mind, Congresswoman Maxine Waters then introduced in May the Stop TRUMP in Crypto Act of 2025 (HR 3573), to prevent the president, vice-president, members of Congress and their families from profiting from cryptocurrency-related ventures.
