‘I have never seen such open corruption': Trump's crypto deals and loosening of rules shock observers

‘I have never seen such open corruption’: Trump’s crypto deals and loosening of rules shock observers | Trump administration | The Guardian

After courtship with crypto industry, president now profits immensely from a sector he once said ‘seems like a scam’

theguardian.com

TL;DR: Crypto mogul Justin Sun splashed out $20 million on the Trump-branded “$TRUMP” memecoin, snagging a $100 K watch and VIP dinner at Mar-a-Lago—part of an event series (including a White House tour) that hauled in about $148 million, largely from anonymous and foreign buyers. Launched just before Trump’s inauguration, the joke-token spree has already funneled tens of millions to Trump, his family and partners (notably World Liberty Financial, where Sun plunked down another $75 million).

Critics—from ex-prosecutors to Harvard scholars—are crying foul, calling this “the Mount Everest of corruption” as Trump uses his office to loosen SEC and DOJ oversight, pause fraud cases and toss out pro-crypto executive orders. Congressional Democrats (and even some Republicans) have opened probes and introduced “end crypto corruption” legislation, warning that unchecked deregulation could supercharge scams, hacks (hello, NKorea’s $1.3 billion take) and industry meltdowns much bigger than FTX.