the ethical critique of the President of the USA

The USA President, Donald Trump, seems to be the subject of a new wave of criticism that sees him at the center of ‘crypto corruption’. Having declared himself in favor of the cryptocurrency sector, Trump and his family continue to enrich themselves with personal enterprises, triggering ethical and legal alarms. 

Trump and the crypto corruption: the US President at the center of criticism on ethics and legality

An article from The Guardian reflects the current situation concerning the President of the USA, Donald Trump, and his alleged “roadmap” to crypto corruption.

Recently, in fact, it seems that more and more criticisms are being raised against the Trump family and about the President’s behavior from a perspective of legality and ethics. 

In practice, while on one hand the first US President favorable to crypto is drastically reducing surveillance on the industry, on the other hand he and his family are collecting billions of dollars with their crypto enterprises. 

The first doubts about Trump’s conduct were raised precisely by the sale of his official memecoin TRUMP. 

Something that was already predictable, given that in January, the crypto lawyer Preston Byrne had already announced that lawsuits would be coming against Trump due to the launch of his memecoin.

In February, the organization Public Citizen had denounced the USA President for promoting the memecoin to obtain undeclared donations through social media posts. It was an encouragement to his supporters to send him crypto through explicit references to popular tokens.

Despite these initial criticisms, on May 22, the USA President personally hosted a dinner at his golf club in Virginia for the 220 top TRUMP buyers and a private “reception” for the 25 top buyers.

The event was also characterized by strong public opposition, with as many as 100 protesters who gathered outside the Trump National Golf Club. Already here, the slogan of dissent was “Stop Trump’s Crypto Corruption” and “Democracy Is Not For Sale”.

Trump and the crypto corruption: the memecoin, Justin Sun and the USA SEC

Another topic that caused a stir when talking about the memecoin TRUMP is that among the participants of the gala event was also Justin Sun, the co-founder of Tron. 

Sun purchased about 20 million dollars of TRUMP tokens to become the main buyer before the dinner on the 22nd that he attended. Not only that, previously Sun had invested at least 30 million dollars in World Liberty Financial, becoming its main investor and advisor. 

This involvement of Trump and Sun has sparked further criticism even within the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the USA.

In practice, in February, the SEC and Sun filed a joint motion to temporarily suspend the legal proceedings initiated in 2023. Here, the main charge was market manipulation, fraud, and issuance of unregistered securities.

After this suspension of the proceedings against Sun, the founder of Tron finds himself to be the largest investor in the projects of Trump and family. 

Thus, recently, the representative Glenn Ivey, D-Md, asked SEC Chairman, Paul Atkins, for explanations on the current connection.

Atkins, who has held his role for just over a month, reportedly responded to the legislators’ tough questions, stating that they could pose a problem. 

The block of the GENIUS Act

In addition to the memecoin and Sun’s involvement, Trump’s path of crypto corruption also involves the crypto project World Liberty Financial and the launch of the stablecoin USD1. 

In this regard, at the beginning of May, the US Senate blocked the bipartisan bill aimed at creating a regulatory framework for crypto. This is the GENIUS Act, the proposal that would have regulated stablecoins and promoted the growth of the US sector.

This block reflects how legislators are increasingly raising questions about conflicts of interest related to Trump and his ties to the crypto sector. 

The collection of criticisms against the USA President favorable to crypto

Among the various criticisms reported against Trump, there is that of Professor Richard Briffault, an expert in governmental ethics, who stated: 

“Trump is marketing access to himself as a way to profit from his memecoin. People pay to meet Trump and he is the regulator in chief. It is doubly corrupt. It is an unprecedented thing. I don’t think there has ever been anything like this in American history.”

Merkley and Schumer have introduced the End Crypto Corruption Act, which 20 other Democrats have endorsed. Merkley emphasized:

“the bill will not only suppress this corruption, but will also prevent other officials – such as members of Congress and Trump’s billionaire buddy Elon Musk – from betraying the public’s trust”

Larry Noble, former general counsel of the Federal Election Commission who now teaches law at American University, commented: 

“Trump’s dealings in the cryptocurrency sector seem to present the biggest conflicts of interest and the greatest possibilities for corruption that a president has ever embraced [..] World Liberty Financial and $Trump seem to allow foreign governments, corporate interests, and wealthy private donors who want something from Trump to secretly increase his wealth. This is a roadmap for corruption. What they want in return for their investments can present real dangers to our economy and national security”.. 

 The democratic representative Jamie Raskin from Maryland instead said:

“Trump’s personal and family net worth has increased by billions of dollars this year thanks to cryptocurrency ventures. This is a perfect opportunity for foreign governments, companies, and individual funds to be funneled into Donald Trump’s bank account and his family’s finances.”