New Ethics Bill Bans Congress, President, and Family from Profiting Off Crypto Using Their Likeness

The Stop Presidential Profiteering from Digital Assets Act is a straight-up ethics bill aimed squarely at the intersection of power and the crypto market. At its core, the bill makes it illegal for high-ranking federal officials and their immediate families to profit from any digital asset—think Bitcoin, NFTs, stablecoins, or even meme coins—that uses their recognizable features, like their name, picture, or slogan (SEC. 2).

This isn't just about the President; the rule covers the Vice President, every member of Congress (House and Senate), and any federal official who had to be confirmed by the Senate to get their job. Crucially, the ban extends to their immediate family members who live with them (SEC. 2). If a digital asset uses the identifiable traits of one of these covered individuals and they stand to make money, the law presumes it’s a violation right away (SEC. 3).

The 'No Consent' Clause: Losing Rights to Your Own Digital Face

Here’s the part that gets complicated: Under this Act, even if a covered individual agrees to have their likeness used—say, a Senator wants to launch an NFT collection to fund their grandchild’s college tuition—that consent doesn't matter (SEC. 3). The creation, advertising, or sale of that asset is still prohibited. This provision effectively removes the right of these public figures (and their families) to commercialize their own image in the digital asset space, regardless of whether they want to or not. For the average person, this might feel like a strange restriction on personal rights, but the goal here is to prevent even the appearance of officials leveraging their public office for private gain in the often-unregulated crypto world.

The SEC Gets the Keys to the Crypto Enforcement Car

Who’s going to police this? The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) gets the exclusive job of enforcement (SEC. 4). If they catch someone breaking this rule, the penalties are steep: a civil fine equal to the greater of $250,000 per violation or the total amount of gross financial gain the violator made from the illegal activity (SEC. 4). This means if a company sells a million dollars worth of illegal NFTs using a Congressman’s likeness, they’re looking at a million-dollar fine, minimum.

Beyond the fines, the SEC can also seek a court order (an injunction) to stop the creation and continued distribution of the prohibited digital assets. The SEC isn’t wasting time, either; they have exactly 180 days from the law's signing to write all the necessary rules to put this Act into practice (SEC. 5).

Real-World Impact: Who Feels the Pinch?

For the digital asset market, this bill introduces a new layer of risk and regulation enforced by the SEC, specifically targeting political figures. If you’re a crypto developer or a marketing firm that specializes in NFTs, you now have a massive, high-stakes compliance hurdle to clear: you cannot touch the likeness of any high-ranking official or their immediate family for commercial digital assets. The heavy fines are designed to make it too risky to even try.

For the officials themselves, the bill closes a potential loophole for profiting off their status using new technology. While this protects against corruption, it also means that if a Senator’s adult child, who lives at home, is a talented digital artist, they are now prohibited from creating and selling an NFT using their own name or image if it’s deemed an “identifiable trait” of the covered family member and they stand to profit. The bill’s broad definition of “identifiable traits” could also create issues for political commentary or satire pieces if they cross the line into commercial use, though the primary target is clearly financial exploitation.