Ethics experts fear Trump will use conflict of interest exception to hold onto crypto in White House
Ethics experts fear Trump will use conflict of interest exception to hold onto crypto in White House
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Trump has called for the U.S. to buy a strategic crypto reserve. Donald Trump once called cryptocurrency a “scam.” Now ethics experts fear the president may be carrying out a rules-bending crypto scheme of his own by holding onto crypto assets while serving in the White House.
As an example, the office pointed to a federal employee hypothetically pushing for U.S. currencies to back certain crypto coins that could profit the employee. Such warnings would seem to apply to Donald Trump. An affiliate of his Trump Organization is one of the main owners of $TRUMP, an “official” Trump-themed crypto meme coin.
A 1980s-era exception to the rules, however, exempts presidents, leaving ethics observers fearful that Trump’s strongly pro-crypto agenda could result in self-dealing. Democrats have warned that Donald and Melania Trump’s ownership of separate, name-branded crypto offerings raises alarm bells that the president and First Lady could carry out a “rug-pull” scam and cash in on their ownership.
“These coins do not create new faster, cheaper, and safer payments [guard] rails. These coins do not help people borrow more affordably. They do not improve the financial system in any way for consumers,” they noted. The Trump administration, given its extensive ties to the business world, has an above-average potential for conflicts of interest.
