If the bill survives this week’s cloture vote, it’ll keep the legislative process going but there will be additional votes, including a final passage vote. The House of Representatives will also need to take up the bill when it returns from its recess after the election in November.
The ethics provision also includes civil penalties for the issuer and, in a change from the previous draft, allows state attorneys general to bring lawsuits to enforce it. The new bill also gets rid of a previous sunset provision for enforcement.
“Not later than the effective date of division C of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act under section 30104 of that division, a covered individual who maintains a significant financial interest shall — A$0.08276 divest the significant financial interest; or B$0.2173 place the significant financial interest in a qualified blind trust,” the revised text said.
The “covered individual” — the bill’s term for a senior government official who falls under the ethics provision — would then have three days to notify the appropriate ethics office, which in turn would have another three days to publicly announce the divestiture. That divestiture will be treated as a sale.
The text also bars crypto exchanges from listing any digital assets issued by a covered individual.
