The Trump campaign received over a hundred million dollars from crypto-related companies and individuals leading up to the 2024 election. So far, that investment is paying huge dividends. On March 2nd, Trump posted on Truth Social declaring that he would direct the federal government to stockpile millions of dollars worth of several cryptocurrencies, a move that would certainly enrich the select few who can afford to ‘invest’ in crypto. This move is a blatant reward for the crypto industry’s support of Trump’s campaign, which has steadily shifted more and more in favor of cryptocurrencies. In September of 2024, Trump and his sons announced they were launching their own crypto scheme: World Liberty Financial.
A little over a week after Trump announced his crypto “Strategic Reserve” (which would use Treasury funds to acquire the crypto “coins”), it was reported that members of the Trump family were in talks to acquire a stake in Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange. There were also rumors that the acquisition could be conditioned on a pardon for the company’s founder, Changpeng Zhao, who pled guilty to money laundering-related charges in November 2023.
While corruption and self-dealing is certainly nothing new to U.S. politics, the brazen manner in which Trump is moving public dollars directly into his own pockets and those of his allies is a marked shift, a clear sign that the there is not even a mirage of guardrails in this administration, and that the institutions meant to prevent this daylight robbery are either unable or unwilling. Trump and others are playing the system like a fiddle, and it is obvious there is no force within their system that is doing anything meaningful about it.
