Trump’s Crypto Business Raises Concerns as Congress Pushes New Laws
As the U.S. Congress moves quickly to pass new crypto regulations, President Donald Trump is facing criticism for his personal involvement in the crypto industry. Critics say his business interests in crypto could be a conflict of interest.
Democrats in both the House and Senate have protested what they call “Trump’s crypto corruption,” which is making some crypto industry leaders worry that their key legislation could be in danger.
However, a new poll released by the Cedar Innovation Foundation, a pro-crypto group, tries to show that most Americans aren’t bothered by Trump’s crypto dealings. The poll, taken from June 16–18, found that 60% of voters had not heard anything recently about Trump making millions from his family’s crypto firm, World Liberty Financial. Only 40% were aware.
Also, 57% of people said they hadn’t heard much about Trump’s Solana meme coin (TRUMP), while 43% had.
Cedar says this proves that attacks from Democrats haven’t really changed public opinion. “The results show the criticism isn’t working,” a spokesperson told Decrypt.
But another poll, done by Data for Progress, tells a different story. It found that 62% of voters believe that Congress should make sure Trump and his family can’t personally profit from crypto laws.
By political group, that includes:
- 80% of Democrats
- 66% of independents
- 42% of Republicans
A Democratic staff member called Cedar’s poll “questionable” and described the group as being secretly funded by the crypto industry.
Cedar’s poll didn’t ask if voters support banning Trump from profiting. Instead, it asked if people thought there should be clearer rules for crypto since Trump is already involved. Most Democrats (79%) agreed, but only 36% of Republicans said yes.
Trump’s involvement in crypto has increased since the start of his second term. For example:
- His family’s Ethereum-based platform, World Liberty Financial, sold $550 million worth of WLFI tokens, earning Trump and his team about $390 million.
- His meme coin, TRUMP (on Solana), launched in January and was once valued at over $70 billion, but is now down to about $8.6 billion. Trump and his team own 80% of the tokens, which will be released over the next three years.
When asked if he would stop his crypto ventures to help crypto laws pass, Trump avoided answering directly. He claimed that without him, the crypto industry would have moved to China.
One of the biggest crypto laws moving through Congress now is the GENIUS Act, which would regulate stablecoins. The Senate passed it last month, and the House will vote on it soon.
The bill doesn’t include any rules to stop Trump or his family from making money off their own stablecoins. In March, the Trump family launched a stablecoin called USD1, which is now the 8th-largest stablecoin in the world, with a $2.2 billion market cap.
