Trump Sons Plan Crypto Startup

To make America the 'crypto capital of the planet,' former U.S. President Donald Trump promised crypto-friendly policies, writes Politico, which 'could have a new beneficiary: his own family.'

Trump has vowed to enact an array of pro-crypto policies in a bid to win votes — and campaign cash — from digital asset enthusiasts in recent months. Now, he's weaving the overtures into his pitch for his sons' forthcoming startup... It remains unclear what the Trump sons' crypto venture will look like. They have been teasing their plans to launch it for weeks, in part by positioning it as an alternative to the use of big banks.... ['Be defiant,' reads the tagline on their World Liberty Financial home page — with nothing more than its name and the words 'Coming soon.']

Trump's sons took over control of their father's business, the Trump Organization, after he became president in 2017, but he retained ownership of the company... It is unclear whether the crypto startup would be launched as part of the Trump Organization or as a separate entity. Either way, ethics experts and watchdogs say the crypto business could create the appearance of a conflict of interest if Trump wins back the White House this fall... From an 'optics perspective, it's terrible,' said Richard Painter, who served as chief White House ethics lawyer under former President George W. Bush and later ran for Congress as a Democrat. But he said it wouldn't violate any ethics laws.

The family venture is the latest way Trump has embraced the digital asset industry, which is pouring more than $160 million into the 2024 elections as it seeks to help elect allies up and down the ballot. Trump has also marketed his own line of non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, which are digital images of the former president that fans can purchase for $99... Trump's NFT sales could also raise ethics concerns, said Jordan Libowitz, vice president for communications at the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington....

'[P]rior conflicts and illegalities took advantage of preexisting loopholes,' said Norman Eisen, an ethics lawyer who served in the Obama White House and later helped build the first impeachment case against Trump. 'Here, Trump appears to be promising to create the loopholes while his family is simultaneously designing a business venture to exploit them.'
The article notes that Trump promoted his son's crypto venture on X this week with audio from Trump's speech at a crypto conference in July. 'He first revealed his pro-crypto leanings — after previously deriding digital currency — at a Mar-a-Lago event in May with supporters who bought his crypto-linked digital trading cards...'

'Trump is also facing new questions about what he would do with his stake in the parent company of the social media service Truth Social,' the article adds. (Although this week the stock hit a new low. After losing 50% of its value in six weeks, it's dropped below $20 per share for the first time since it started publicly trading...)

Read more of this story at Slashdot.