Senate Republicans are working to pass a landmark cryptocurrency bill that could change the digital asset landscape. At least one of the lawmakers working on it, Sen. Dave McCormick, could benefit monetarily from it.
Over the past three months, McCormick has funneled between $500,000 and $1.25 million into Bitwise’s bitcoin exchange-traded fund, according to financial disclosure records. (Senators disclose investments within a range.)
The fund’s value has quickly climbed, hitting a three-month high Tuesday after the GENIUS Act passed cloture. The industry-backed bill isn’t about bitcoin specifically: It regulates a segment of the crypto market known as stablecoins, and its potential passage points to a more mainstream adoption of digital assets. McCormick, a member of the Senate’s banking committee and its new digital assets subcommittee, voted to advance the bill.
McCormick’s investments since February in the bitcoin fund grew by an average of about 24%, according to calculations by NOTUS, amounting to a profit margin of at least $100,000 and up to a quarter-million dollars if he sold them now.
The investments aren’t illegal or in violation of congressional ethics. But some lawmakers think McCormick’s investments are another example of lawmakers profiting off of their work in Congress, whether it’s through buying stock or cryptocurrency.
“It’s a conflict of interest,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren told NOTUS. “No elected official should own crypto or own individual stocks and be voting on laws and regulations that will affect the value of those same items.”
McCormick declined an interview with NOTUS, and his office did not respond to NOTUS’ emailed request for comment. A spokesperson previously told The Philadelphia Inquirer that “Senator McCormick’s investments are consistent with Senate ethics rules and financial disclosure requirements.”
McCormick is one of a very small number of Senators to disclose major crypto holdings in public financial-disclosure reports. Sen. Ted Cruz also reported holding at least $50,000 in bitcoin as of 2023.
McCormick held at least $1 million in that fund as of last year, according to 2024 candidate financial-disclosure records, but purchased significantly more since his work on the digital assets subcommittee. The recent investments were first reported by Coindesk.
Some critics, like Warren, say members of Congress owning such funds poses serious ethical concerns. But many other senators who have been working to advance the GENIUS Act insist holding crypto does not pose a conflict of interest for their colleagues, even if they wouldn’t do it themselves.
“No. There’s a big difference between stablecoins and cryptocurrencies, so I don’t think anybody should feel conflicted out,” Sen. Cynthia Lummis told NOTUS. “And even if this were a straight-up cryptocurrency bill, I don’t think they should be conflicted out over that either.”
“Almost everybody here owns stocks and mutual funds, we all vote on security laws all the time,” she added before clarifying that most of her investments are held in a blind fund, which doesn’t let her know what specific stocks she’s investing in.
A key Democratic supporter of the GENIUS Act, Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego, said holding crypto doesn’t pose any particular conflict of interest for lawmakers working on the bill and that the assets should be held to the same standard as any other security. However, he told NOTUS he’s chosen to stay away from digital assets while he works on this bill.
“Because I’m working on this bill, I chose not to participate in that way,” Gallego told NOTUS. But if Congress is going to “treat [crypto] as a security, it should be treated equally across the board,” he added.
Progressives have made “crypto corruption” a key talking point in their efforts against industry-backed cryptocurrency legislation. The main focus has been on Donald Trump and his family’s crypto ventures, including a secretive, private dinner Thursday for the top 220 purchasers of his “memecoin,” a type of digital asset.
Concerns over illicit trading guardrails and consumer protections could threaten the final passage of the GENIUS Act, which some Democrats have said they’d support only with amendments. Gallego said he expects significant negotiations to take place regarding Democratic-backed consumer-protection and illicit-trading concerns before the bill reaches a full floor vote.
The act regulates ‘stablecoins,’ a form of cryptocurrency that is directly tied to non-digital commodities like gold or the U.S. dollar. Even though stablecoins theoretically work differently from other cryptocurrencies, they can be easily traded into bitcoin or other tokens. The cryptocurrency industry remains highly speculative, with the value of individual tokens being tied to how much investors have faith in them.
Supporters of the GENIUS Act have a delicate balance to strike, as they need to bring on enough Democratic support to pass the bill along, which is hindered by the fact that passing it would give Trump and longtime crypto supporters a big win — especially as a Trump-hosted crypto dinner is scheduled for Thursday.
Additionally, there is growing momentum in Congress to bar or restrict members from trading stocks, which has been spearheaded by an unlikely coalition of progressives and conservatives in the House.
In recent weeks, Republicans like Reps. Chip Roy, Brian Fitzpatrick and Tim Burchett said they would join Democrats in pushing for a ban on congressional stock trading through a bill that might be introduced in the coming weeks.
“It’s important for your people back in the district and the people that elected you to have total trust in what you’re doing here,” Rep. Rob Bresnahan, the sponsor of a House bill regulating congressional stock trading, previously told NOTUS. “That you’re not doing it for ulterior motives.”
Sen. Cory Booker is one of the lawmakers that has called for hearings on potential congressional insider trading after Trump in April lifted some of his tariffs on imports. Booker told NOTUS he supports legislation limiting lawmakers’ abilities to trade assets — stocks, crypto or otherwise.
“We have a Senate right now that has a lot of conflicts of interest. I don’t think senators should be trading individual stocks, and I don’t think senators should be holding crypto,” he said. “The way this system stands right now is rife for corruption, and we should set up a lot more fire walls.”
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Samuel Larreal and Claire Heddles are NOTUS reporters and Allbritton Journalism Institute fellows.