What cryptocurrencies do U.S. congressmen own?

Original author: Fat Huahua, Rhythm BlockBeats

The past year is the first time that the cryptocurrency world has officially entered the world of congressmen. For lawmakers, 2021 is not only the first year of legislative constraints on the cryptocurrency market, but also the first time cryptocurrencies have entered their portfolios.

According to statistics, in the 117th Congress, the average age of representatives is 58.4 years old, and the average age of senators is 64.3 years old. Although it seems that they are older, judging from relevant news and disclosures, age has not become an obstacle for some of them to learn about the encryption world.

A total of 6 members of Congress disclosed their participation in cryptocurrency transactions in their filing records, including 4 representatives and 2 senators. They are:

Federal Congressman:

Felix Moore: Invested $45k in ADA, $15k in ETH

Mary Newman: Invested up to $50k On GBTC

Mark Green: bought and sold about $15,000 to $30,000 in BAT, CELO, DOGE, EOS, ETC, LINK and XLM on.

Mike Woltz: Bought up to $100,000 in BTC

Federation Senator:

Pat Toomey: Invested up to $15,000 each in ETHE and GBTC< /p>

Cynthia Ramis: Invested $100,000 in BTC

According to the declaration information The 6 members of Congress made a total of 25 deals in 2021.

In addition to directly buying and selling digital currencies, more members of Congress indirectly hold There are encrypted assets.

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

Rep. Barry Moore, a Republican, reportedly invested as much as $15,000 in an Alabama brokerage firm, according to a report. His financial disclosures describe the company as a "cryptocurrency brokerage." His office did not respond to a request for comment about his agency. His disclosure said the company paid dividends of $2,501 to $5,000 in 2020.

Democrat Rep. Mary Newman's husband, Jim Newman, has at least 16 disclosed transactions for Coinbase stock. The most recent transaction, in November, was a $50,001 to $100,000 sale. Also in November, Newman's husband purchased up to $50,000 worth of Grayscale trust products.

Among them, Republican Senator Cynthia Ramis's purchase of $100,000 worth of goods in August last year caused a lot of controversy.

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

It is worth mentioning that in 2016 Congress established a cross-party "Congressional Blockchain Caucus (Caucus)" to discuss blockchain and cryptocurrency related issue. Republican Tom Emmer, one of the current caucus leaders, said he first learned about cryptocurrencies in 2015 or 2016 from a book he borrowed from his staff ("The Age of Cryptocurrency"). According to public disclosures, he does not directly hold or invest in any related cryptocurrencies.

Congressional staff also love cryptocurrency

Compared to members of public figures, The congressional staffers who are responsible for providing various services and consulting work to members of Congress are no less concerned about cryptocurrencies than they are.

Insider reported that they could identify 21 senior congressional staffers or their spouses who bought or sold crypto in 2020 and 2021 Currencies, including BTC, ETH, and DOGE.

Under federal law, officers and other concerned employees of Congress are required to promptly report all stock transactions and other outside income from them if their annual income exceeds $132,552 . This figure is usually the minimum salary of the chief of staff of the parliamentarians (also known as the chief of staff of the parliamentarian); in addition to the chief of staff, other senior staff higher than this figure also include the chief counselors of each parliamentarian (chief counsels), legislative Legislative directors, and staff who serve on committees and provide policy advice to lawmakers.

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

Concluding Remarks

For a variety of reasons, constraining MPs in establishing Personal blind trusts have been slow to carry out investment activities, and have always attracted a certain degree of criticism from public opinion. The urgency and seriousness of this issue is even more pronounced with the advent of crypto assets.

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