Today, Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), the top Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, issued the following statement in advance of her planned objection to the upcoming joint Financial Services and Agriculture Digital Assets Subcommittee hearing on cryptocurrency. Because this is a joint hearing, the unanimous consent of all Subcommittee Members is required for the hearing to proceed. Ahead of the hearing, Congresswoman Waters has decided she will not provide such consent because Republicans have refused to address the serious concerns involving President Trump, Melania and their sons Eric, and Donald Trump Jr. owning, issuing, and controlling crypto assets—such as memecoins, stablecoins, and other tokens. Trump’s ownership of these crypto assets and crypto firms is a clear conflict of interest, especially as he is actively influencing the development of legislation that, if passed, would allow him to shape the rules governing his own family’s assets and companies.

Instead of the joint hearing, Ranking Member Waters will be hosting a Democratic hearing open to the public with a panel of experts to discuss a path forward for cryptocurrency legislation that addresses Trump’s crypto conflicts of interest.

The Democratic hearing will take place on Tuesday, May 6th at 10:30 a.m. in CVC 217. At this hearing, Democrats will discuss the Ranking Members’ discussion draft that would ban the President and Members of Congress from owning crypto assets and firms.

“For several years, I have led the effort in Congress to advance common-sense cryptocurrency legislation to protect American investors and consumers from fraud and scams, while supporting crypto capital formation. But President Trump’s actions have drastically transformed the landscape of crypto in ways that are far more dangerous than what we could have ever imagined. To put it simply, Donald Trump and his family’s crypto corruption is the biggest and most egregious scheme in modern history.

“Yet, Chairman French Hill, Agriculture Chairman GT Thompson and Committee Republicans insist on pressing forward with business as usual, turning a blind eye to the President’s widely reported conflicts of interest on crypto. Ahead of this scheduled hearing on crypto market structure, I called Chairman Hill and made it clear that I would only give my consent to this hearing if he would include provisions to block Trump and his family, as well as Members of Congress and other elected federal government officials, from further profiting off crypto at the expense of American families in his crypto legislation. Regrettably, Chairman Hill rejected this request.

“Because this hearing is being held outside of the normal rules of the House, Mr. Hill and Mr. Thompson need the consent of every Member, Democrat and Republican, and I cannot in good faith agree to such a hearing to discuss crypto market structure while Republicans refuse to stop or even acknowledge Trump’s abuse of power.

“Members of Congress have a solemn responsibility to protect and defend the American public. It’s time for Republicans to stand up to the brazen and blatant crypto corruption tied to the President of the United States and hold this President accountable.”

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