Slotkin co-sponsors bill targeting Trump’s crypto coin, cites risks of foreign influence

U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Lansing) speaks to reporters in Lansing following Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's State of the State address on Jan. 24, 2024. (Photo by Andrew Roth)

U.S. Senator Elissa Slotkin says legislation she co-sponsored seeks to prevent President Donald Trump from “lining his pockets” with money from cryptocurrency assets.

The End Crypto Corruption Act would prohibit the president, vice president, senior executive branch officials, members of Congress, and their immediate families from issuing, endorsing, or profiting from digital assets. That includes cryptocurrencies, which are traded on peer-to-peer networks and exist outside of traditional financial institutions, not overseen by third parties or government regulators.

The legislation comes after Trump launched his own meme coin cryptocurrency in January, and plans to hold an event May 22 at his golf club in Virginia for more than 200 of the largest investors, with the 25 highest holders gaining admission for a private reception. Bloomberg reports the majority of those top holders used foreign exchanges that bar users from the United States, “suggesting many purchasers are based abroad.”

“To be honest, I don’t even think that this should be a partisan issue,” Slotkin told the Michigan Advance. “No matter who the president is, they shouldn’t be allowed to create a marketplace and what amounts to direct payments to the president and his family.”

Slotkin, who sits on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, says it is an unprecedented situation.

“You’re talking about folks with foreign interests, foreign businesses, foreign assets, buying themselves a seat close to the president. You’re not just talking about him lining his pockets, you’re talking about the threat of foreign influence on the president of the United States,” Slotkin said.

Trump has said through a White House spokesperson that his children are managing his assets through a trust, so there is no conflict for him.

Introduced Wednesday, the legislation only has Democratic sponsors, and Slotkin says even in a GOP-controlled Senate, bills like this should find at least some support from across the aisle.

But to date they have not.

“I have not seen that type of behavior from my Republican colleagues in the hundred-plus days we’ve been in this Senate,” Slotkin said. “I think [Alaska’s Republican U.S. Sen.] Lisa Murkowski said the quiet part out loud, that they’re scared of [Trump] putting a spotlight on them, and I think it’s up to the Democrats to highlight these issues of corruption at the highest levels.”

Slotkin said while there does seem to be bipartisan interest in creating some form of regulation to cryptocurrencies in general, the End Crypto Corruption Act needs to be a priority.

“We’ve got a more immediate crocodile closer to the boat, and that’s the president of the United States, selling his own currency and marketing his own currency and using it as a form of payment to line his pockets,” Slotkin said.