CoinDesk Survey of 1,000 registered voters2024, which was evenly split between Trump and Harris supporters, was conducted last week by Public Opinion Strategies. It found that 62% of respondents do not trust the Trump administration to handle crypto regulation. That said, only 45% said they were aware that Trump and his family have built up a profitable stake in the industry, particularly in the form of the family’s heavy involvement in crypto platform World Liberty Financial. In addition to concerns specifically about Trump, 73% of all voters opposed senior government officials having business interests in crypto. The figure was also 59% among Republican voters.
During his election campaign, Trump gave many concrete pledges To conquer the industry. he promised to make one national bitcoin reserves And vowed that the government would never sell or acquire any Bitcoin it already held in the future. Trump also committed to firing former SEC Chairman Gary Gensler on his first day in office and providing clearer rules for the crypto industry to follow. Additionally, he expressed his desire for all future Bitcoins to be mined inside the United States.
These promises helped secure industry donations, but the Trump family has also made large sums of money from crypto ventures. alone in 2025 The family reportedly generated $1.4 billion in crypto-related incomeEquivalent to about 20% of its $6.8 billion assets. The profits came from other projects including World Liberty Financial’s sale of WLFI tokens, proceeds from Trump Memecoin, and the operations of a US bitcoin mining company.
Additionally, critics have pointed to several episodes as evidence of potential conflicts of interest or outright corruption. Trump pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who had served a prison sentence for violating anti-money laundering regulatory compliance rules. Former DOJ pardon attorney Elizabeth Oyer described the move as “unprecedented corruption”. and said that Zhao does not meet the standard criteria for clemency. Binance currently holds about $2 billion in World Liberty Financial’s USD1 stablecoin, a holding that still generates millions in annual revenue for Trump-linked entities.
Another deal involved an investment firm linked to Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE’s national security adviser. Who agreed to invest $500 million to acquire a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial At World Liberty Financial. Eric Trump signed the contract days before his January 2025 inauguration, and $187 million went to Trump family entities. Months later, the administration reversed long-standing national security blocks on selling advanced AI chips to the United Arab Emirates, with 20% of them reportedly going to Tahnoon’s own firm.
Crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun also joined the allegations. Sun purchased a large amount of World Liberty Financial Tokens and Trump Memecoins. After Trump took office, the SEC initially put its enforcement case against him on hold it was finally resolved. Three House Democrats wrote to the agency Asking whether the decision reflects undue influence.
However, Many Trump-linked crypto projects are now facing a bit of turmoil. For example, World Liberty Financial is now the target of a lawsuit filed by Sun over its frozen assets. The project has also faced criticism for borrowing stablecoins while posting its own tokens as collateral, a practice that Some analysts compared the strategy to that used by the collapsed FTX exchange.. Another venture, Alt5 Sigma Corp, saw its stock fall about 85% last year. Eric Trump was removed from the company’s leadership list, and the related webpage has since been taken offline. The firm had previously announced plans to purchase $1.5 billion worth of WLFI tokens for its treasury.
Despite the campaign’s emphasis on crypto, one of Trump’s signature promises remains unfulfilled. The Clarity Act, which would set clearer rules for digital assets and was heavily campaigned for by industry donors, has not passed Congress. the bill was pending earlier Disagreement between crypto firms and traditional banks over stablecoin yields. But recently, Republican Senator Thom Tillis has said the legislation is ready to be heard and expressed support for adding the ethics language.
Passage is widely considered necessary before the November midterm elections, as analysts expect Democrats to gain seats in the House and Senate, which could block future crypto-friendly measures. Democrats have pushed for months to include provisions that would prevent officials, namely Trump, from personally profiting from crypto while in office, and now the latest survey data shows that 73% of voters also share that view.
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