US: Hawaii Representative Reveals Crypto Holdings of ETH, LTC After Rule Change

Hawaii's Democratic Representative Tulsi Gabbard has joined the list of U.S. politicians who have invested in cryptocurrency, having disclosed purchases of Litecoin and Ethereum, Bloomberg reports Thursday, August 23.

Citing an income filing from August 14, the publication notes Gabbard purchased between $1,001 and $15,000 worth of the two assets at some point in December 2017.

At the time, both were highly volatile, rising steeply towards the end of the month after Bitcoin hit all-time highs around $20,000.

Depending on the exact date of the purchases, Gabbard could have secured ETH and LTC for as little as $444 and $87 or as much as $814 and $344 respectively, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

The value of both has since sunk below the December minimums as part of an overall cryptocurrency market slump which has continued throughout 2018.

In June of this year, the United States Office of Government Ethics had announced in a notice that politicians must disclose cryptocurrency holdings in filings as part of "Property held for investment or the production of income."

According to the new guidance, those that file are "Required to identify the name of the virtual currency and, if held through an exchange or platform, the exchange or platform on which it is held," Cointelegraph quoted.

At the beginning of August, chair of the Judiciary Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives and Congressman Bob Goodlatte had also reported that he owns between $17,000 and $80,000 in digital currency in his annual Financial Disclosure Statement.

Cryptocurrency acceptance meanwhile remains a perennial issue among both current and prospective US politicians, with some candidates announcing their intention to take crypto campaign donations despite the unclear legal framework.