US Government Officials With Cryptocurrency Are Prohibited From Making Policies On Crypto And Digital Assets

US government officials with cryptocurrencies are prohibited from making policies about crypto. (photo: doc. pixabay)

JAKARTA - US government officials who personally have cryptocurrencies are now prohibited from making regulations and policies that can affect the value of digital assets.

The new notice released by the US Government Ethics Office (OGE) on Tuesday, July 7 stated that the deminist exception - which allows securities owners who hold a number below a certain threshold for working on policies related to security, universally cannot be applied in terms of cryptocurrencies and stablecoins.

As a result, an employee holding any amount of cryptocurrencies or stablecoins cannot participate in certain issues if the employee finds out that certain issues can have direct and predictable effects on the value of their cryptocurrencies or stablecoins. The notification read as quoted by Cointelegraph.

The notice provides an example of a scenario in which an employee who only has $100 of a certain stablecoin is asked to work on stablecoin regulations, the employee concerned cannot participate in work related to regulations "until and unless they leave their interests in the stablecoin [it]".

The notice stipulates that this decision still applies even if the cryptocurrency or stablecoin in question has "consisted [security] for the purpose of a federal securities law or state."

The new decision applies universally to all federal government employees including the White House, Federal Reserve, and the Treasury.

The term "demanis" comes from a longer Latin phrase, meaning: "law doesn't pay attention to trivial things."

The only exception of OGE's crackdown on crypto holdings is that policymakers are allowed to store up to USD 50.000 in mutual funds investing widely in companies that will benefit from crypto and blockchain technology. The reason for this exception is because they are considered as diversified funds.

Despite the seemingly harsh rules regarding employee investment in the crypto sector, the United States continues to advance in integrating the cryptocurrency industry, where US President Joe Biden announced a "all governments" approach to regulations regarding the digital asset sector.

According to Raymond Shu, co-founder and CEO of Cabital, a recent legislative proposal could make the US the only West country that fully regulates and accepts stablecoins and other digital assets as an official part of the financial system.