Think of this timeline so that no one thinks it is an exaggeration.
▪ On January 17th, three days before the inauguration ceremony, Trump’s family announced that one of their companies would issue a digital “memecoin” called $Trump ($Melania was released a few days later). Memecoins generally have no intrinsic value and were once issued primarily as jokes or commemorative items. But they can also make money for those who sell them when they spike their value. A month later, the Securities and Exchange Commission said that the meme coins are not subject to U.S. Securities Act.
Then in April, the president said he would promote his meme coin directly, serve dinner at Trump National Golf Club in Washington, DC, and serve dinner to Trump’s top 220 owners. The top 25 owners can also meet the president at a private reception. The value of the meme coin jumped nearly 60% in the announcement, but later retreated again. Nevertheless, Trump’s affiliates support making millions with his meme coins.
“Swampy is like Swampy,” the conservative national review writer said of $Trump.
▪In late January, the White House announced its widespread support for digital currency, announcing “an important role in US innovation and economic development, and the international leadership of our country.” Six weeks later, the president announced the establishment of a US cryptocurrency sanctuary that “promotes this important industry.”
▪In late March, World Liberty Financial, a crypto business with the Trump family holding large stakes, announced that it would launch a Stablecoin called USD1. By late April, the market value of USD1 had been fixed at over $1 billion. Then, on April 30, MGX, a high-tech investment company backed by the UAE government, announced that it would use USD1 to invest $2 billion in Binance, a platform for global trading of digital currencies.
The deal means that the world’s Liberty Financial and Trump’s family will earn every time USD1 is traded, perhaps even millions. It is also worth noting that in February the SEC suspended its investigation into vinance. The CEO, who pleaded guilty in 2023, is said to be seeking pardon from Trump for accusing him of failing to maintain an effective money laundering program.
A Trump spokesman told the New York Times that his assets are “the trust that his children manage,” and that as a result, there is “no conflict of interest.” However, there is no doubt that that trust will directly benefit President Trump, the paper noted.
▪In a videocast speech before the April cryptographic treaty, the president told the crowd that Biden administration’s industry regulations were “stigma,” pledging to support laws that clarified Stablecoin regulations, and that he made it clear that a kind of cryptocurrency designed to hold its value for $1, and that it would be made into a dollar.
▪This month, the Senate moved to a vote on a ridiculous bill not only supported by Republicans, but also supported by some Democrats. The bill provides what one supporter calls the “light touch” rule. This will likely be provided under the auspices of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, appointed by the President. The vote could be held as early as Thursday.
There is debate to bring clear regulations to the crypto industry. Many crypto enthusiasts may prefer wild west disorder in digital currency trading, but at the expense of the average investor, business is being exploited by fraudsters and uncruel profiters. Without proper regulations and transparency rules, it is also too easy in a place for drugs and traffickers, terrorists and illicit nations.
But the obviously conflicting way the Trump administration is hoping to regulate and also ease restrictions should then suspend Congress from pursuing profits.
Trump’s financial plan represents “the deepest case of modern presidential conflicts of interest,” Norman Eisen, executive chair of a nonpartisan government watchdog group called the National Democracy Advocate Fund, told the editorial board.
For these reasons, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat of Massachusetts, is entitled to a revision of the Stubcoin bill, including adding a language to ban the President or his family from owning stubcoin. Other Democrats are pushing for stronger anti-money laundering languages. If they remain united, Democrats should either halt or at least have enough votes to slow the passage of the bill.
Beyond the prominent conflicts of Trump crypto ventures, the hindrance questions about ethical guardrails or their lack of them are about this or the financial efforts of the president in office. With the exception of certain disclosure requirements established by Congress, there are few restrictions on the ability of a president to benefit the president’s capabilities.
The Constitution prohibits federal officials, including the president, from receiving “emoluments” – money or gifts from foreign governments or their leaders without the consent of Congress. However, the definition of emolume is ambiguous, and there are no established sanctions against a president who accepts emoluments other than each. And the chances of a Republican-led Congress each Trump were each shot during his first term and acquitted twice in the Senate – is zero.
In 2021, the editorial committee asked Congress to request the President to sell himself from investments that could cause conflict and release tax returns. The call didn’t go anywhere.
And now, the size of the Trump family’s crypto venture is almost certainly a dwarf of the profits his family may have made in hotels and international real estate transactions during his first term. These ventures are greater than the amounts that were accused of making Hunter Biden during his father’s presidency and that Trump was accused of saying he deserves prison.
Richard Briffort, a professor at the Columbia Law School who specializes in government ethics, said the closest approximation to today’s Trump family’s vast crypto ventures is former Vice President Nelson Rockefeller’s large investment portfolio. However, because Rockefeller was not president, he lacked the authority to sign laws, oversee regulators, and direct military equipment sales to countries like the UAE.
Given that even Democrats and even Republicans who cited Trump lack meaningful power for now, there is little they can do to slow down the benefits of Trump’s family. However, they can propose laws that establish clearer ethical guidelines for him and the future president.
And like Warren and others are trying to do, those senators can force dots to connect for all Trump voters who said they wanted to clean Washington. Those voters should know that the president does not drain the swamp and fills it with fire hoses almost every day, and should be deeply aware.
The editorial represents the views of the Boston Globe Editorial Committee. Follow @globeopinion.
