‘Trump’s Successful Tendencies’: How the President’s Crypto Ties Can Incentivize Corruption | Donald Trump

ThWith Donald Trump tapping top regulators with cryptocurrency ties and promising to make the US the “crypto capital of the planet,” the controversial industry risks risks for investors and spurs potential criminal violations.

The president’s pro-crypto stances came as he courted crypto companies to increase campaign contributions to his campaign to help him win the White House. Although in 2021, Trump called Bitcoin a “scam,” he also announced last fall that he and his sons were helping launch a new crypto business, called World Liberty Financial, that they could profit from.

Underscoring his growing ties to speculative crypto businesses, Trump in a blatant act of self-experimentation before his inauguration unveiled another crypto project, a personal meme coin dubbed $Trump that drew strong criticism from ethics watchdogs, economists and some from the industry.

“The Trump meme coin represents the intersection of Trump’s success tendencies and his administration’s embrace of cryptocurrencies, along with his dismissive stance toward government regulation,” said Cornell economics professor Eswar Prasad.

More broadly, Prasad expects that “regulatory agencies and senior management officials will contribute to the legitimacy of crypto assets, despite the highly speculative nature of these investments and the risks they expose unsophisticated retail investors to in their volatility.”

The crypto industry’s political fortunes soared as its leaders raised millions of dollars to help Trump’s campaign, opening salvos including a “crypto ball” and pressing the new administration and Congress to deliver on their priorities.

In an early sign of Laxer’s stewardship of the industry, Crypto executives applauded when Trump last month tapped Paul Atkins, who founded a pro-cartel group, to head the securities and exchange where he used to be commissioner.

Furthermore, Trump issued an executive order last Thursday to support cryptocurrency growth that called for a new working group to explore the creation of a national crypto stock and propose new digital asset regulations, and in keeping with his promise to revamp crypto policies.

Trump also received kudos from crypto companies for appointing David Sacks, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist who helped found PayPal and has good connections with billionaire Uber and crypto enthusiast Elon Musk, to be the first crypto and AI Czar in his new administration.

Crypto Ball Bags declared that “the reign of terror against crypto is ending.” That same night, Trump took to the Social Truth platform to launch $Trump, which has no inherent value, but its price soared before Trump’s inauguration to the bill worth billions of dollars.

Trump’s blatant conflation of his political efforts to promote crypto through less regulation and his pursuit of crypto wealth has drawn strong criticism from the IEA and experts.

“Most people who have any concern about basic ethical principles, let alone specific rules and standards for government ethics, would find Trump launching a cryptocurrency token just because he is about to be inaugurated as president outrageous,” the FEC said. Lawyer Larry Noble, who now studies law at American University.

“It appears that the anonymity of cryptocurrency transactions will allow anyone seeking favorable treatment from the Trump administration, including US companies, as well as foreign representatives and countries, to participate in making Trump richer than ever by purchasing his token. “

Other critics offer equally harsh assessments of Trump’s crypto stunt, in which the Trump Organization is said to have an 80% stake.

“The value of the currency could be affected by his actions or policies once in office, especially since Trump has said he would be more friendly with crypto, which would likely increase the value of the currency at least temporarily,” Richard Painter, George W. Bush, said. Senior ethics attorney who teaches law at the University of Minnesota.

Likewise, in a broader critique, Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts told The Guardian: “Trump should be focused on cutting costs for Americans, not diluting them from their savings to juice the value of crypto tokens for himself and his family.”

Trump’s wife Melania launched her own meme coin Melania long after her husband.

Some experts are also concerned about broader risks to the economy emerging from proposals to create a U.S. Bitcoin reserve that Trump and some top industry leaders have suggested might return.

“Creating a Bitcoin reserve would give the cryptocurrency an official indication and expose the US government to the risks associated with price volatility,” Prasad said.

Prasad added: “This is not a strategic or sensible idea, but instead benefits Bitcoin holders while US taxpayers stay with the bill and expose the government to financial risk. The US government will become a major driver of the price of Bitcoin on its way up and down.”

Such criticism appears unlikely to deter the Trump administration’s pro-bullet momentum fueled by industry lobbyists with strong Trump ties and tens of millions in campaign spending that has benefited congressional and Trump allies.

Major crypto companies have expanded their influence efforts in recent weeks by funneling millions of dollars to Trump’s inaugural, hiring high-profile lobbyists who were better at fundraising for Trump and breaking up strong ties with him.

Among other things, Crypto Ripple pledged $5 million of its cryptocurrency to the editorial, making it one of the largest donors. The Ripple Outside Possing team includes Michael Best Strategies, which is headed by former Trump board of staff Reince Priebus.

After Trump’s election, Ripple also hired power lobbyist Brian Ballard who had been a major fundraiser for Trump since 2016. Ballard Strategies, the lobbying firm that bears its name, represents Robinhood, a major trading platform in the industry, representing $2 million to the opening .

Trump’s appeal to crypto leaders was evident at a Bitcoin conference last summer where he vowed to oust SEC Chairman Gary Gensler, who was hated by industry leaders for his tough regulatory antics, and Trump pledged to make the United States the “Bitcoin capital of the world.”

Trump’s personal enthusiasm for the altcoin was highlighted last September when he announced on Musk’s

Last month, World Liberty was a featured player at a lavish two-day Bitcoin event in Abu Dhabi, featuring a keynote talk by Eric Trump. The conference also drew Trump’s special Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, who helped found Freedom Worldwide and now boasts its Chinese-born entrepreneur Justin Sun, who attended the Abu Dhabi event and has reportedly pumped $75 million into Freedom Worldwide, leading Another crypto company called Tron has drawn regulatory scrutiny. In 2023, the SEC filed charges of fraud and other securities law violations against Sun and three of his wholly-owned companies including Tron Corporation Limited.

At Abu Dhabi Bash, Eric Trump promised his father would be “the most pro-president in the history of America.”

Despite Trump’s public support for Crypto and its financial business risks, there are signs of escalation of crypto abuses that are troubling critics.

Among the concerns are numerous criminal currency abuses including some dangerous foreign actors linked to North Korea.

Last month, a study by leading blockchain firm, Chainanalysis, found that North Korean hackers stole $1.34 billion in cryptocurrency in 2024, a record amount and double what they stole in 2023.

The report concluded that U.S. and foreign analysts believed the stolen money was being used “to fund weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missile programs.”

In the US, too, major crypto fraud schemes have raised alarms.

Sam Bankman-Fried, who founded the now bankrupt FTX Crypto Exchange, was sentenced to 25 years in prison last March by a New York judge for fleecing clients out of $8 billion.

More broadly, the FBI revealed in an annual report last September that fraud related to crypto companies rose in 2023 as Americans suffered $5.6 billion in losses, up 45% from the previous year.

These violations have led crypto critics to urge stronger — not weaker — cryptocurrency regulations on scammers and the possibility of broader economic repercussions.

“There is a significant risk that our next financial crisis could result from an inflation of the value of cryptocurrency (i.e. a bubble), just as the last crisis arose from loosely regulated pre-2008 securities-based swap agreements and collateralized securities,” said Ressam.

Warren emphasized that Congress must work in a “bipartisan way to define sound rules of the road for crypto that facilitate competition and innovation and have real safeguards to protect our national security and protect consumers, investors, and our broader financial system from potential shocks.”

Top Democrats expect meme coins to undermine campaign finance restrictions.

“Meme Coin could spell the end of any campaign finance law as we know it,” said Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin of Maryland. It is an opportunity for an interested donor to put millions or billions of dollars into the possession of a politician. If a foreign or domestic interest wants to secretly funnel money to the president, they can do it this way. “

Previous prosecutors also raise red flags about criminal crypto schemes.

“The crypto world is just another context in which scammers and scammers have learned to operate. It is a shiny new object that people want access to in the hope that it will make them rich,” said former prosecutor Stefan Casella, who heads the Fixed Asset Confiscation Act.

Cryptocurrency has given rise to a world of temporary assets, characterized by a complexity that few understand and a vocabulary that few have mastered, and which has created opportunities for criminals and challenges for law enforcement that simply did not exist in any prior lifetime. “

They are also concerned by others about the spread of crypto fraud.

Former Department of Justice Fraud Head Paul Pelletier said: “Cryptocrime is a manifestation of a new reality in global economic crime – an anonymous, digital route to commit and hide the proceeds of organized criminal activity.”

“Because sophisticated criminal actors realize that law enforcement cannot currently effectively monitor or disrupt activity, malicious state actors like North Korea are exploiting these vulnerabilities to prey on billions of unsuspecting victims around the world.

“It is imperative that U.S. law enforcement and regulators actively and aggressively develop sophisticated surveillance systems to deter this emerging and expanding threat. Unfortunately, they appear to be moving in the opposite direction.”