The Case Against Trump’s Crypto Scheme—in Plain English

Trump made $5 billion this weekend by doing nothing

Over the holiday weekend, Americans went to barbecues and parades and gathered with friends, family, and neighbors. Many spent the waning days of summer at the beach or the lake. It was time off from work and an opportunity to disconnect from the drudgery of politics in Trump’s America.

Trump also took some time off. In fact, he took so much time off that there was rampant online speculation that he had died. But in between watching Fox News, rage-posting on social media, and a round of golf, Trump found time to make a cool $5 billion from one of his corrupt crypto scams.

Yes, you read that correctly.

The President of the United States is $5 billion richer—and he did it without even leaving his house.

Here’s what happened, according to the Wall Street Journal:

The Trump family notched as much as $5 billion in paper wealth on Monday after its flagship crypto venture opened trading of a new digital currency.

The launch is akin to an initial public offering, in which the cryptocurrency, called WLFI, can now be bought and sold on the open market like a listed company’s shares. Beforehand, people who had privately bought WLFI from the Trump venture, World Liberty Financial, hadn’t been able to exchange their tokens. The trading debut was most likely the biggest financial success for the president’s family since the inauguration.

I promise you that this is not how it’s supposed to work. Presidents are not supposed to be actively trying to enrich themselves while in office. It presents a myriad of conflicts of interest and a cornucopia of corruption.

I can also promise you that most Americans have no idea Trump is lining his pockets with crypto cash while they struggle with higher prices from his tariff policies.

This is something they should definitely know … and the people in our lives will only know it if we tell them.

Here are some thoughts about how to talk about it.

How to Talk About Trump’s Crypto Windfall

Crypto is very hard to comprehend. Not that many people know how it works or what a memecoin is. Nor do they know that Trump has been an incredibly pro-crypto president at the same time that he is investing in the space—which is a massive conflict of interest.

You aren’t going to get very far with your uncle or cousin if you begin with Crypto 101. Their eyes will glaze over. Instead, you want to make the story as simple as possible.

One could make the case that Trump is enriching himself while American families are paying higher prices for food, housing, health insurance, and energy—largely because of Trump’s tariffs. Instead of bringing down costs for American families, Trump is lining his own pockets.

I can see that argument having purchase with the economically sensitive voters who put aside their reservations to vote for him because they thought he might be able to bring down prices.

However, I tend to favor a different tack. Trump’s crypto schemes are an example of Trump profiting from the broken, corrupt political system that he promised to change.

Everything involved with Trump and crypto is some of the most blatant corruption in American history. Here are three examples:

• Earlier this year, Trump held a dinner for the largest holders of his crypto memecoin. After the invitation made the rounds on social media, the memecoin’s price surged more than 60%. Trump makes money on the sale of every memecoin and holds a substantial portion of the coins, so the surge in activity lined his pockets in multiple ways.

  

• In 2023, the SEC charged Justin Sun, a prominent crypto investor, with fraud, market manipulation, and other crimes. Sun then invested $75 million into Trump’s various crypto ventures and made sure that everyone, including President Trump, knew about it. Lo and behold, the SEC dropped its charges against Sun after Trump took office.

• Binance is a crypto exchange that pleaded guilty during the Biden administration to facilitating money laundering, including funds sent to terrorist groups like ISIS. Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal reported:

  Executives from cryptocurrency exchange Binance met with Treasury Department officials last month and discussed loosening U.S. government oversight on the company, while it was also exploring a business deal with a Trump family crypto venture, according to people familiar with the talks.

  The Binance executives asked Treasury officials in Washington to remove a U.S. monitor that oversees the exchange’s compliance with anti-money-laundering laws, some of the people said. The move would mark a first step toward returning the company, which in 2023 pleaded guilty to violating those laws, to the U.S. market.Binance has also been in talks to list a new dollar-pegged cryptocurrency from World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture backed by President Trump’s family, other people familiar with the discussions said. Listing the token, known as a stablecoin, could catapult it into a huge market and potentially bring in billions in profit for the family.

The advantage of this approach is twofold. First, it goes at Trump’s political strength as an outsider, and second, it fits with the larger discussion of the Epstein files that has broken out of the media bubble to the masses.

As I wrote yesterday, I’m going to call on this community more often to serve as a megaphone for the anti-Trump movement. I plan to write more quick posts about stories you may have missed that have real political significance—and include the best ways to talk about those issues.

I’ll make all of these posts free for everyone, so they’re easier to share. If you want to support this work by becoming a paid subscriber, I’m offering a special end-of-summer deal where your first month is free.