U.S. Congress’ Most Prolific Crypto Trader Is a Georgia Trucking Operator

Mike Collins, a first-term Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives, may not have a high profile on crypto policy, but he has a very active crypto portfolio. And his trading indicates that memecoin enthusiasm has reached the shores of Congress.

Collins, whose committee assignments keep him far from the core decisions on U.S. crypto legislation, has kept a busy hand in the buying and selling of digital assets. Earlier this week, Collins made small buys of Ski Mask Dog and Aerodrome (AERO) – each of the purchases categorized in the congressional financial filings as between $1,000 and $15,000.

A trucking company operator who arrived in Congress last year, Collins is among a handful of direct crypto traders on Capitol Hill. And his is the most extensive record, according to his disclosures, with 19 trades going back to November, including in Ethereum’s ether (ETH), Velodrome Finance and The Graph (GRT). When his purchase of Ski Mask Dog and AERO was noted on social media site X, he responded by posting an image of Pepe the Frog.

Ski Mask Dog is another in a long series of dog-based memecoins, which are typically volatile and often humorously inspired tokens. Aerodrome is one of the biggest decentralized exchanges on Base.

Collins has an “A” rating from crypto advocates Stand With Crypto, noting his support of digital assets legislation including the high-profile Financial Innovation and Technology for the 21st Century Act (FIT21). And he’s coming back next year, having earned 63% of the vote last month to defeat a Democrat challenger to earn his second term in the House.

The Georgia congressman is better known on immigration issues, including for sponsoring his own bills empowering states against the federal government.

Direct investing by members of Congress has long been a controversial topic, with critics raising the hazards posed by potential conflicts of interest and insider trading. But trading of such assets as stocks, bonds and crypto is still on the table for members of the House and Senate, though each transaction is publicly disclosed.

Former Representative Madison Cawthorn, a North Carolina Republican, had been an even busier crypto trader than Collins before he was defeated in a primary challenge in 2022. The dollar amounts Collins has been trading are generally small, and other members of Congress have dealt with bigger sums, such as Michigan Democrat Shri Thanedar’s sales of at least $365,000 in bitcoin (BTC), ETH and litecoin (LTC) in February.