U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick (R., Pa.) is investing in bitcoin as the Senate Banking Committee, on which he sits, is mulling legislation on cryptocurrency regulation.
The freshman Republican senator spent anywhere from $505,000 to about $1.1 million in crypto purchases, along with several million in state or municipal bonds, according to financial disclosure reports. Federal ethics guidelines require senators to disclose within 30 days the purchase or sale of any stock, bond or other security.
The rules don’t require the disclosure of exact dollar value, just a value range for each trade.
McCormick, a former CEO of Bridgewater, the world’s largest hedge fund, logged 15 trades between February and the end of March, all of which were purchased on Bitwise Bitcoin ETF, a managed cryptocurrency index fund.
McCormick’s investments have concerned some government ethics advocates, but the senator’s team said he is following the rules.
“Senator McCormick’s investments are consistent with Senate ethics rules and financial disclosure requirements,” a McCormick spokesperson said.
His investments come as the Senate’s committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs considers bipartisan legislation introduced in February that would provide a “regulatory framework” for stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency that is backed up by a hard investment, like fiat currency or gold.
The legislation called the “Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act,” which has been heavily lobbied for by bitcoin traders, would require issuers in the U.S. to back up stablecoins with reserves of U.S. dollars, among other regulatory changes aimed at stabilizing the notoriously volatile crypto market.
McCormick is also a member of a related Subcommittee on Digital Assets, which had its first hearing at the end of February. During that hearing, McCormick’s line of questioning focused on the United States’ role in this technology and benefits of stablecoins and pointed to digital assets and blockchain (best known for recording a digital ledger of crypto transactions) as the “next big wave” of technological innovation.
“It’s our job as policymakers to create an environment where that innovation can thrive, while at the same time protecting consumers along the way,” McCormick said during the hearing.
Jordan Libowitz, vice president of communications of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), a watchdog organization, said McCormick’s investments show that Senate ethics rules “are not strong enough” and that his membership on the banking and digital asset committees raised questions about perceived conflicts of interests.
“You never want to be in a position where you’re questioning whether your senators are acting in the best interest of their constituents or their own bank account, and he is now in a unique position to help his own personal interests,” Libowitz said.
McCormick’s bitcoin investments are part of a larger trend of Republicans embracing cryptocurrency. President Donald Trump signed an executive order in the first week of his presidency creating a working group on digital assets. He also has his own “meme” coin.
Former U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey (R., Pa.) also drew ethical concerns for bitcoin trading. These critiques have led some in Congress to call for legislators to be barred from securities trading altogether.
McCormick, who assumed office in January, campaigned on progressing cryptocurrency and blockchain, writing in a March 2024 op-ed for the Washington Examiner, a conservative news magazine, that they “offer America the chance to lead another generation of critical innovation, but policymakers must do their part, or this opportunity will slip away.”
