When the United States Office of Government Ethics (OGE) released its Legal Advisory 22-04 on July 5, most attention was given to its conclusion that federal employees who own any amount of cryptocurrency or stablecoins whatsoever may not participate in regulation and policymaking that concerns crypto. The legal advisory (LA) raised some eyebrows, as de minimis exemptions, threshold amounts below which assets holdings are permissible, are common in the government. The LA is more comprehensible when seen in a larger context.
The OGE does not grant interviews, so it was fortunate that a video of OGE Senior Associate Counsel Christopher Swartz discussing the LA appeared on the office’s YouTube channel the day after Cointelegraph made an inquiry. Swartz discussed several points in detail, emphasized that the LA is an interpretation of current law to aid in its application to federal employees and “understand the law as it exists.” The OGE has no position on digital assets in general.
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