Bitcoin News: Owning BTC Disallowed For Lawmakers Per Pennsylvania HB 1812 Bill

In recent Bitcoin news on the regulatory front, Lawmakers in the U.S might soon not be allowed to buy Bitcoin.

This is because of the Pennsylvania HB 1812 bill which proposes banning public officials and their families from owning BTC.

The Pennsylvania HB 1812 bill proposed restricting government officials from accessing to Bitcoin and other digital assets.

This includes owning or transacting cryptocurrencies, stablecoins and ETFs during their tenures and at least 12 months after leaving office.

Moreover, the bill also proposes extending the ban on to family members of the public officials. Proxies that can be used to bypass the ban are also under the purview of this ban.

According to the bill, any public officials found to be in violation of the bill will be fined as much as $50,000.

They will also be required to disclose any holdings above $1,000. Moreover, any crypto holdings that politicians own must be sold off at least 90 days before they assume office.

Bitcoin News: Here’s the Motive Behind the Pennsylvania HB 1812 Bill

The Pennsylvania HB 1812 bill was a nod to similar bills introduced in the past, with intent to block lawmakers from trading stocks.

This bill was introduced because politicians were previously using privileged information to make trades. The bill was introduced because politicians were using their positions for insider trading.

This was likely the same reason why the Pennsylvania HB 1812 bill was introduced especially now that digital currencies are going mainstream.

According to the state website, the bill was in the first committee assessment stage, in other words, it was still too early to tell whether it would eventually be ascended into law.

Meanwhile, the bill’s effectiveness was also in question. The aforementioned law banning lawmakers from investing in stocks did not yield much success.

Some lawmakers still found ways to bypass the laws. This included investing but paying the stipulated fines which often ended up being small compared to the gains they made.

The bill also proposed banning family members was also vague given how easy it would be to bypass this.

In other Bitcoin news, there was the matter of DeFi and anonymous accounts which could still offer a workaround.

Challenging President Trump and his Family’s Involvement with World Liberty Financial

U.S president Donald Trump will likely not be pleased with the Pennsylvania HB 1812 bill considering his crypto holdings.

Furthermore, Trump has been closely linked to World Liberty Financial, a company whose roots have been pushing deeper into the crypto and WEB3 industry.

Trump’s family members including his sons reportedly hold substantial stake in World Liberty Financial.

Addresses linked to Trump also suggest that he has a sizable crypto portfolio. This means he (POTUS and his family might be forced to rescind their crypto exposure if the bill ascends into law.

These factors could complicate the bills path and determine whether the bill will successfully become law.

There was also the matter of crypto being considered as commodities and also new forms of money.

This could present the argument that politicians should be allowed to access alternative currencies.

Nevertheless, the Pennsylvania HB 1812 bill underscored the maturing crypto segment and its transition into the mainstream.

The bill also revealed that some lawmakers were keen on implementing proper regulation in the crypto segment.

However, in addition to the multiple developments in latest Bitcoin news, the controversial nature of this latest bill suggests that the path ahead could turn out very interesting.