The cryptocurrency industry is waiting for President Donald Trump to issue an executive order that will usher the federal government into a new, more welcoming era of digital asset oversight. That will be good for Trump’s own business, and that’s one reason House Democrats are already calling out ethical lapses in the administration.
A Trump executive order on cryptocurrencies will increase the value of at least two components of Trump’s family business: the cryptocurrency company World Liberty Financial and the token of the same name (TRUMP) launched just before his return to the White House. Gerry Connolly, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, called for an investigation into the president’s business relationships in a letter sent to the committee’s Republican chairman a day into Trump’s new term.
“This committee must take immediate steps to investigate the serious conflicts of interest
“Donald Trump takes the Office of the President with him,” he wrote in the request, which is unlikely to lead to formal scrutiny of the GOP leader, demanding loyalty from top GOP officials. “The ever-expanding reach of President Trump – and by extension, the Trump Organization’s financial entanglements and quid pro quo promises are troubling.”
Earlier, as Trump’s swearing-in still echoed in the Capitol Rotunda, Rep. Maxine Waters, the ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, expressed alarm about Trump’s coin.
“Through his meme currency, Trump has created a way to circumvent national security and anti-corruption laws, allowing interested parties to anonymously transfer money to him and his inner circle,” Waters said in a Jan. 20 statement. . “Buyers could include large corporations, allied nations that are pressured to show their ‘respect’ for the president, and our adversaries, like Russia and China, who have much to gain by influencing a Trump presidency.”
Waters argued that the token not only compromises Trump, but taints the industry as a whole, “which has long struggled for legitimacy and a level playing field with other financial institutions.”
The California Democrat worked for months with former committee chairman Patrick McHenry on a stablecoin regulation bill, but they failed to reach a bipartisan compromise. Waters will still be in a position to weigh in on cryptocurrency notes during this session.
Although Trump had promised swift action on cryptocurrencies when he returned to the White House, the cryptocurrency industry is not yet among those benefiting from the wide range of executive orders the president has already signed. The most important action so far by the reformed US government is the establishment of a cryptocurrency task force by acting Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Mark Uyeda.
Read more: SEC forms new cryptocurrency task force headed by Hester Peirce
