Under new rules that became formal Friday, the Federal Reserve won't be able to trade a lot of assets, including stocks and bonds.
Most of the restrictions will take effect on May 1 according to the Federal Open Market Committee.
The rules will cover Fed employees who attend board meetings, as well as regional bank presidents, staff officers, bond desk managers and other officials. They also extend to spouses and minor children.
The Federal Reserve expects that additional staff will be subject to all or parts of the rules after further review and analysis.
The rules aim to support public confidence in the impartiality and integrity of the Committee's work by guarding against even the appearance of any conflict of interest.
The central bank acted after it was revealed that several senior Fed officials had been trading individual stocks and stock funds just before the central bank adopted sweeping measures to boost the economy.
The presidents of Boston and Boston have left their positions.
The original announcement in October did not mention the ban on cryptocurrencies.
The officials who are still holding market positions will have a year to get rid of their prohibited positions. The new Fed officials will have six months to do it.
In the future, officials covered by the new rules must give 45 days' notice before making any asset purchases, a restriction that will go into effect July 1. They will have to hold those positions for at least a year and will be banned from trading during periods of heightened financial market stress.
Commodities, foreign currencies, sector index funds, derivatives, short positions and agency securities are all covered by the ban.
Congress is debating a measure that will restrict its members from owning individual stocks.
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