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Sponsors of stock-ban bill reportedly clash over US lawmakers trading crypto holdings

Sponsors of stock-ban bill reportedly clash over US lawmakers trading crypto holdings
Snapshot
Texas Representative Chip Roy says not so fast on banning lawmakers from trading crypto. Credit: Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/Shutterstock
  • Sponsors of bipartisan bill in US House differ on crypto, Politico reports.
  • They agree lawmakers should be banned from stock trading.
  • Trading crypto holdings becomes an issue to be worked out.

Whether a bipartisan bill to restrict lawmakers’ stock trading should also apply to their crypto holdings is a question that has divided the two sponsors of the House of Representatives’ stock-ban legislation, Politico reported.

Representatives Abigail Spanberger, a Virginia Democrat, and Chip Roy, a Texas Republican, are leading the charge on the bill that would require stocks to be placed into blind trusts so lawmakers could not trade on privileged information, the report said.

Still, while Spanberger wants crypto to be treated like stocks, Roy is not so sure.

“It’s a little different,” Roy told Politico. “Because allowing people to hedge against the dollar that’s getting destroyed on a regular basis, I’m not sure if I want to completely preclude people’s ability to do that.”

Spanberger maintains that stocks and crypto are similar in that their value can be influenced by lawmakers.

Their conflict is the most recent indicator of the nascent crypto industry’s rising profile in Washington, along with a war chest exceeding $100 million to back the election of crypto-friendly politicians who could potentially help create a more favourable regulatory environment.

It may also be a timely debate as last month the House passed landmark crypto bill FIT21 — which would create a more defined crypto regulatory market — on a bipartisan vote as digital assets become increasingly political just months ahead of the November presidential election.

Spanberger and Roy both supported the bill.

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Political alliance Stand With Crypto gives both an A grade for strongly supporting the industry.

Stay tuned as they try to work out what Politico termed a “crypto conundrum.”

Crypto market movers

  • Bitcoin is down 0.12% today at $64,357.48.
  • Ethereum is up 0.47% today at $3,508.25.

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