Democrats have consistently raised alarm about Trump’s crypto dealings, arguing that World Liberty Financial and other coins he has backed are vehicles for corruption, conflict of interest and grift.
The Trump administration has just as consistently dismissed the criticism, even as the president has dramatically shifted the government’s posture toward the industry.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the administration’s policies were “driving innovation and economic opportunity for all Americans”.
“The media’s continued attempts to fabricate conflicts of interest are irresponsible and reinforce the public’s distrust in what they read,” Ms Leavitt said in a statement. “Neither the President nor his family have ever engaged, or will ever engage, in conflicts of interest.”
Token offerings, like the one from World Liberty Financial, faced intense scrutiny under the Biden administration, which argued that they were essentially a kind of stock sale and subject to existing rules governing publicly traded companies on issues such as conflicts of interest and disclosure.
Trump, who said during the campaign he wanted to make the US the “crypto capital of the world”, had vowed a more hands-off approach.
Last month, the Department of Justice disbanded its task force focused on crypto crimes.
Financial regulators have also explicitly disavowed the Biden administration’s guidance on securities.
“Despite what the SEC has said in the past, most crypto assets are not securities,” his top financial regulator Paul Atkins, the head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, said in a speech in July.
“We need a regulatory framework for crypto asset securities that allows these products to flourish within American markets.”
