U.S. Lawmaker Pushes Ban on Crypto Trading for Elected Officials later than Trump Pardons CZ
Amid a brewing ethics storm in Washington, a U.S. lawmaker, (D-Calif.), has announced plans to introduce a crypto legislation that would prohibit the President, Vice President, members of Congress, and their immediate family members from owning or trading cryptocurrencies. This follows President Trump’s controversial pardon of Changpeng Zhao (CZ), founder of Binance.
Khanna described the pardon as “blatant corruption”, alleging that Zhao’s financial ties to the Trump family’s raised serious conflict-of-interest concerns. The proposed bill is framed as an effort to restore public trust by preventing elected officials from personally benefiting from the digital-asset industry.
Lawmaker Says CZ Pardon is “Corruption,” Not a Tech Issue
Under the draft legislation, political figures would be required to divest from cryptocurrencies or place holdings into a qualified blind trust. They would also be prohibited from launching or promoting crypto assets, and accepting crypto-related donations with foreign links would face stricter disclosure or bans.
Although the full text of the measure has not yet been made public, ahead reports suggest that the bill would impose a blanket ban on trading, owning, or creating digital assets by those in high office. The move builds on Khanna’s earlier effort, the , which attempted to restrict stock trades by lawmakers and stalled in committee.
The push comes directly later than President CZ on October 23, 2025 — a decision that triggered widespread concern over regulatory fairness, potential favoritism, and the opaqueness of crypto-industry relationships with political figures.
Khanna contended that the timing and context of the pardon, combined with links between Binance, the Trump family’s crypto interests, and WLFI, exposed structural vulnerabilities where cryptocurrency wealth, lobbying, and political power intersect. According to him, “This isn’t a tech issue. This is corruption.”
The Conflict Between Politics, Crypto, and Regulation
The proposed bill signals a major shift in how federal ethics frameworks will scrutinize digital assets. If enacted, the law could mark cryptocurrencies as the next asset class subject to stringent ethics rules, similar to the rules governing stock trading by lawmakers. Crypto holdings by public officials may also soon require mandatory blind-trust arrangements or public transparency identical to the STOCK Act.
Additionally, the bill may shape a broader agenda for digital-asset oversight in Washington, influencing other reforms to stablecoins and (DeFi). As politics and cryptocurrency converge, investor sensitivity to regulatory risk and political risk in cryptocurrency firms may rise.
Overall, Ro Khanna’s proposed ban on digital asset trading by elected officials later than the CZ pardon thrusts political-crypto ethics into the spotlight. For an industry where regulation, innovation and lobbying constantly overlap, this move may reshape how digital assets are treated in the corridors of power.
