{"id":20597,"date":"2025-01-23T18:41:10","date_gmt":"2025-01-23T16:41:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/us-congress-scrutinises-the-ethics-of-donald-trumps-crypto-ventures\/"},"modified":"2025-01-23T18:41:10","modified_gmt":"2025-01-23T16:41:10","slug":"us-congress-scrutinises-the-ethics-of-donald-trumps-crypto-ventures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forklog.com\/en\/us-congress-scrutinises-the-ethics-of-donald-trumps-crypto-ventures\/","title":{"rendered":"US Congress scrutinises the ethics of Donald Trump\u2019s crypto ventures"},"content":{"rendered":"

US Representative Gerald Connolly called<\/a> for an investigation into a potential conflict of interest linked to Donald Trump\u2019s cryptocurrency projects.<\/p>\n

In a letter to the chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, the congressman noted that the sitting president may be profiting from the World Liberty Financial (WLFI) platform and the TRUMP memecoin<\/a>. In his view, this potentially violates ethical norms and creates national-security risks.<\/p>\n

On WLFI, Connolly emphasised that the fund\u2019s largest investor<\/a> is Tron founder Justin Sun. The Chinese entrepreneur is under investigation by the SEC<\/span> on charges<\/a> of securities fraud. Possible foreign influence is also a concern, he added.<\/p>\n

He said Sun\u2019s purchase of 30 million WLFI tokens allowed the company to surpass an own-revenue threshold, opening the possibility of sending money directly to Trump and his family.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt is alarming that this is not the only cryptocurrency enterprise the president is engaged in,\u201d Connolly wrote.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Three days before the inauguration, Trump launched the TRUMP memecoin. An entity within the Trump Organization, which sells a range of products under the politician\u2019s brand, holds 80% of the tokens, the congressman said.<\/p>\n

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\u201cEthics experts have already expressed serious concern<\/a> that Trump \u2018is literally cashing in on the presidency by creating financial instruments so that people can transfer money to his family because of the office he holds\u2019,\u201d Connolly stressed.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

On January 19 the price of TRUMP hit a peak of $73.43, but after the politician took office it slumped<\/a>. At the time of writing, the token trades at $36, down 51% from the ATH<\/span>.<\/p>\n

\"Official-Trump-Price-TRUMP-Live-Price-Chart-Market-Cap-News-Today-CoinGecko-Google-Chrome\"
Data: CoinGecko<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Whales did well on the token<\/h2>\n

ARK Invest founder and CEO Cathie Wood told Bloomberg she sees \u201clittle utility\u201d in the token beyond it being \u201cPresident Trump\u2019s own memecoin\u201d.<\/p>\n

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.@ARKInvest<\/a> CEO and CIO Cathie Wood says we don’t know if President Trump’s memecoin holds much utility, but Trump is “ushering in the next phase of the crypto revolution.” She speaks with @scarletfu<\/a>, @kgreifeld<\/a> and @EricBalchunas<\/a> on “ETF IQ” https:\/\/t.co\/YbD2ANk8TA<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/pxlEjL3ZUA<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Bloomberg TV (@BloombergTV) January 22, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n