According to a report by The New York Times on August 19th, U.S. President Donald Trump met with several executives in the cryptocurrency industry at the White House on Wednesday, expressing his support for this industry. This industry has generated substantial wealth for him and his family. Trump also called on Congress to pass an important cryptocurrency legislation.
Trump gathered these individuals in the Roosevelt Room of the White House and read out the names of the cryptocurrency industry professionals who visited. Some of these individuals were also business partners of Trump's family-owned cryptocurrency company.
"This is a group of very remarkable people," Trump said as he surveyed the room, "all extremely successful investors and very intelligent individuals."
From an official perspective, this meeting was a launch event for a newly established 'Innovation Advisory Committee'. This committee is composed of a group of business leaders who provide advice to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), which is one of the agencies responsible for regulating the cryptocurrency industry. However, this meeting also clearly demonstrates the complex relationship between Trump and the cryptocurrency industry. Last year, this industry generated $1.4 billion in revenue for Trump, leading to significant conflicts of interest.
Attendees included Sergey Nazarov, co-founder of Chainlink. Last year, Chainlink established a partnership with World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency startup owned by the Trump family. Another executive, Mike Belshe, is the head of BitGo. BitGo is also a partner of World Liberty; Trump referred to the company as “very important” during the meeting.
Attendees also included Brian Armstrong, the founder of cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, and Arjun Sethi, the CEO of exchange Kraken. Both companies provide trading platforms for several cryptocurrencies launched by the Trump family. The White House and World Liberty have repeatedly denied any conflicts of interest in this matter.
World Liberty spokesperson David Wachsman said, “The New York Times clearly believes that a U.S. president praising leaders of well-known American companies can also be considered a controversy.”
During this meeting with these executives, Trump was in a critical moment for the cryptocurrency industry. The top priority for this industry is to pass a bill called the "Digital Assets Markets Clearance Act." This bill will establish regulatory rules that are more conducive to the commercial development of this technology. In recent weeks, the bill has encountered resistance in the Senate, with Democrats demanding the inclusion of provisions that prohibit public officials, including the president, from selling digital currencies.
At the White House meeting, Trump avoided discussing some of the major controversies surrounding the bill. However, he called on Congress to pass the bill, describing it as "a very, very strong legislation that will keep us ahead of China."
Trump was once skeptical of cryptocurrencies, but during his 2024 presidential campaign, he embraced this technology and quickly turned it into an important pillar of the Trump family's business portfolio. Last year, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ended its long-term crackdown on the cryptocurrency industry and dismissed lawsuits against some major cryptocurrency companies, including Coinbase and Kraken.
Trump also signed a bill called "Guidance and Establishment of a National Innovation for Stablecoins". This law establishes regulatory rules for stablecoins. Stablecoins are popular cryptocurrencies that are usually pegged to the US dollar.
However, recently this industry has encountered problems in Washington.
For many years, executives in the cryptocurrency industry have been lobbying Congress to establish a comprehensive regulatory framework that covers the entire industry. One of their goals is to solidify the policy changes related to cryptocurrencies that were partially supported by the Trump administration through legislation, so that future presidents cannot easily overturn these policies.
Just as these industry executives gathered at the White House on Wednesday, Democrats in Congress were angry over the re-emergence of conflicts of interest between the Trump family's business interests and the government's responsibilities.
Last week, an agency under the U.S. Treasury Department initially approved a subsidiary of World Liberty to obtain a limited banking license. President Trump and his sons hold significant stakes in World Liberty. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) of the U.S. Treasury Department is responsible for regulating banks.
After obtaining this license, World Liberty will be able to issue its stablecoins on its own, thereby saving costs. Currently, the company needs to pay BitGo to issue these coins on its behalf. However, this license does not allow World Liberty to hold personal customer deposits or issue loans.
Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren from Massachusetts called this bank license, which is still subject to final approval, “the most blatant self-interested behavior in the history of the U.S. financial system.” She stated that she will introduce a bill to try to prevent such actions.
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly denied that granting a banking license to World Liberty would create any conflicts of interest. She said, “This is the same tired argument that the Democrats have used over the past ten years against President Trump, his family, and his administration. Everything President Trump has done is for the greatest good of the American public.”
