Trump's Memecoin Bonanza Sparks Ethics Ban Push Amid Clarity Act Gridlock

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is pushing for legislation that would bar elected officials from issuing digital assets, including memecoins. This comes after President Trump's financial disclosure showed he earned $636 million in memecoin income in 2025, his largest revenue source.

The disclosure was made in a 927-page annual filing with the Office of Government Ethics, which revealed that Trump reported over $1.4 billion in crypto-related income for 2025. This includes $635 million in royalties tied to his memecoin business through CIC Digital and $527 million in proceeds from token sales by family-owned World Liberty Financial.

The structure of the memecoin figure is particularly relevant, as it came primarily from licensing royalties on the Solana-based $TRUMP token rather than from trading it. This means that the revenue flows from the commercial use of the president's brand, precisely the mechanism Gillibrand's proposal targets.