STABLE GENIUS Act
Sponsored By: Senator Sen. Bennet, Michael F. [D-CO]
Introduced
Summary
Bars covered federal officials and candidates from buying, selling, holding, or otherwise gaining financial exposure to digital assets while campaigning, serving, or for one year after leaving office. It would also require those assets to be placed in an approved qualified blind trust with public disclosure and strict trustee duties.
Show full summary
- Applies to Presidents, Vice Presidents, Senators, Representatives, Delegates to Congress, the Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico, and candidates. It would ban direct trades, synthetic exposure such as derivatives, and pooled exposure through funds during campaign periods, terms, and for 1 year after leaving office.
- Requires each covered individual to put any digital asset into a qualified blind trust approved by the supervising ethics office. Trustees must divest assets within 6 months, certify yearly that they gave no asset information to the official, and not have close personal or business ties to the covered individual.
- Supervising ethics offices must publish qualified blind trust agreements on their public websites for covered individuals.
- Enforcement includes civil actions by the Attorney General, disgorgement of profits, and civil fines up to $250,000. Criminal penalties would apply if violations cause aggregate losses of $1,000,000 or more or generate financial benefit and could include fines and up to 18 years in prison.
- Prohibited transactions are treated as unofficial acts for immunity purposes so covered individuals could not claim official-duty immunity for those transactions.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
4 provisions identified: 0 benefits, 4 costs, 0 mixed.
Blind trust rules and forced divestment
If enacted, covered individuals could only keep digital-asset investments by placing them into an approved qualified blind trust. The trust must be approved in writing by the supervising ethics office before use. Trustees would have to sell or otherwise divest assets placed in the trust within six months of trust setup. Trustees must certify each year they gave no asset information to the covered individual and may not be close personal or business contacts. Ethics offices would post trust agreements on their public websites.
Penalties for officials who break rules
If enacted, the Attorney General could sue covered individuals who violate the ban and seek civil fines and disgorgement. Knowing violations could bring a civil fine up to $250,000 and courts could make violators pay profits to the U.S. Treasury. Criminal charges could apply if a knowing violation causes $1,000,000 or more in aggregate U.S. losses or if the covered person benefits financially, directly or indirectly. Criminal penalties could include fines and up to 18 years in prison. The bill would treat prohibited digital-asset conduct as outside official duties, so immunity defenses tied to official acts would not apply.
Ban on digital-asset deals for officials
If enacted, the bill would bar covered federal officeholders and candidates from many dealings in digital assets. Covered people include the President, Vice President, members of Congress, delegates, the Resident Commissioner, and candidates for those offices. "Digital asset" would mean any value recorded on a secured distributed ledger. The ban would apply from filing as a candidate to the election, during the term in office, and for one year after leaving office. The rule would cover buying, selling, holding, issuing, endorsing, or getting crypto through derivatives or pooled funds.
Federal Election Commission supervises trusts
If enacted, the bill would add the Federal Election Commission to the list of supervising ethics offices. The FEC would supervise qualified blind trusts and handle approvals and public posting for candidates in covered federal elections. This clarifies which agency reviews candidate trust agreements.
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Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Sen. Bennet, Michael F. [D-CO]
CO • D
Cosponsors
There are no cosponsors for this bill.
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
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