- Khanna said he will file a bill to ban the president, lawmakers, and families from owning, trading, or creating crypto.
- He linked the push to ethics concerns following President Trump’s October 23, 2025, pardon of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao.
- The plan points to divestment or blind-trust routes for any existing crypto held by covered officials.
U.S. Congressman Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) is preparing to introduce legislation that would prohibit the president, members of Congress, and their families from trading, owning, or creating cryptocurrencies.
The proposal comes days after President Donald Trump pardoned Binance founder and former CEO Changpeng Zhao.
Related: White House Debates Potential Pardon for Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao
Khanna announced the bill during an interview on MSNBC, describing the pardon as “blatant corruption.”
He argued that the incident highlighted the need for stronger ethics laws to prevent elected officials from financially benefiting from digital assets or foreign-backed crypto projects.
“This is blatant corruption. You don’t need to know a lot about cryptocurrency to understand what went on here,” the democrat said.
“You’ve got a foreign billionaire who was basically engaged in money-laundering, having money go to Hamas, having money go to Iran, having money go to child abusers. He was convicted.”
Trump’s Pardon and Backlash
The controversy began after Trump granted a full pardon to Zhao on October 24, just months after Zhao completed a four-month prison sentence in the United States.
Binance, one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, had pleaded guilty to anti-money-laundering failures and agreed to pay over $4.3 billion in fines.
Critics argue that the pardon was politically motivated and connected to Binance’s reported ties with the Trump family’s crypto venture, World Liberty Financial (WLFI).
According to a report, Binance provided technical and financial support to WLFI while lobbying the administration to soften its stance toward the exchange.
The Bay Area congressman said such relationships expose “a direct conflict of interest” between public office and private business, especially when foreign companies seek influence over U.S. policy decisions.
Binance’s Links to the Trump Family’s Crypto Firm
World Liberty Financial, led by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, recently launched a stablecoin initiative to build a U.S.-based digital currency network.
The company received early liquidity and infrastructure support from Binance, which had also employed lobbyists to improve its standing with the Trump administration.
Former CFTC Chair Timothy Massad previously warned that Trump’s growing involvement in cryptocurrency ventures risked blurring the lines between public duty and personal profit.
Massad said such activities could undermine investor trust and national security if foreign-backed entities influence White House decisions.
Bill Seeks to Extend Ethics Rules to Digital Assets
Khanna’s proposed legislation mirrors his earlier Ban Congressional Stock Trading Act of 2023, which, although stalled, sought to prevent lawmakers and their families from trading individual stocks while in office.
The new proposal would extend those same restrictions to cryptocurrencies and tokenized assets.
“This is about restoring trust,” Khanna said. “Elected officials should not personally profit from policies they influence or from relationships with foreign-backed companies.”
The measure would also require elected officials to divest any existing crypto holdings or place them in blind trusts, similar to existing stock trading requirements.
Related: Binance Pays $450,000 to Trump Jr. Ally to Lobby the White House
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