3-4-2025 – Two prominent Democratic figures in the United States Congress have sounded the alarm over potential entanglements between President Donald Trump’s family and the cryptocurrency sphere. Senator Elizabeth Warren, a formidable voice on the Senate Banking Committee, and Representative Maxine Waters, her counterpart on the House Financial Services Committee, have penned a compelling letter to Mark Uyeda, the acting head of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Dated April 2, their missive demands that the agency safeguard records tied to World Liberty Financial (WLFI)—a crypto venture backed by the Trump clan—amid fears of undue influence over America’s financial watchdog.
The lawmakers’ concerns strike at the heart of impartial governance. They argue that the Trump family’s stake in WLFI creates a glaring conflict of interest, one that could sway the administration to nudge federal bodies, including the SEC, towards policies that plump the family’s coffers. “The American public has a right to clarity,” they assert, insisting that citizens deserve to know whether market regulation remains untainted or if decisions are skewed to enrich the President’s kin. Their call is for transparency: preserve all correspondence between Trump, his relatives, and the SEC, alongside any records linked to WLFI.
This plea arrives against a backdrop of rapid developments in Trump’s crypto pursuits. Just a week prior, WLFI unveiled USD1, a stablecoin launched on the BNB Chain and Ethereum blockchain. Since the year began, Trump has rolled out an ambitious slate of crypto initiatives—plans for a national digital currency reserve and the debut of a TRUMP memecoin among them—each shadowed by whispers of self-interest. Warren and Waters suggest these ventures could compromise the SEC’s mandate to shield investors and uphold market integrity, hinting at a regulatory body potentially swayed by the very family it ought to scrutinise.
Waters has been vocal on this front before. During an April 2 hearing of the House Financial Services Committee, the California congresswoman warned that, unchecked, Trump might leverage his presidency to entrench WLFI’s stablecoin in government transactions, reaping direct financial rewards. Such apprehensions resonate beyond party lines, with lawmakers and financial pundits alike voicing unease over the murky overlap between Trump’s crypto ambitions and his public office.
The SEC’s trajectory under Trump adds fuel to the debate. Since Uyeda’s appointment as acting chair, the agency has quietly shelved probes and enforcement actions against various crypto outfits—some led by executives who bankrolled Trump’s 2024 campaign. Meanwhile, the President’s nominee to succeed Uyeda, Paul Atkins, faces a critical juncture. On April 3, the Senate Banking Committee will weigh his candidacy; should he clear that hurdle, the full Senate will determine his fate.
