Phyrex|Jul 01, 2026 08:51
From the existing public information, making money through cryptocurrency in Sichuan may not be illegal in law, but there are great problems in ethics, conflict of interest and perception of political corruption.
First, Trump and his family make money through encryption projects, which is not inherently illegal.
The President of the United States can retain private assets or hold commercial interests through trusts. This includes cryptocurrencies.
Secondly, if ordinary federal officials participate in government matters that affect their financial interests, they may trigger the criminal conflict of interest rules of 18 America. C. § 208.
OGE's interpretation of this rule is that government employees cannot personally and substantially participate in official matters in which they have financial interests. But the President and Vice President are quite special, and the CRS's interpretation of the conflict of interest rules for the executive branch clearly states that 18 America. C. § 208 does not apply to the President and Vice President.
This is the most crucial aspect.
There is a significant legal gap on the President's side. So while Trump is promoting stable currency regulation and encryption policies, its own family projects are making money from stable currency, Meme currency and World Liberty. Although it is like a conflict of interest in the intuition of ordinary people, OGE's rules are not conflicting. It can only be said that Trump is a very shrewd businessman who knows how to find loopholes. But it's not illegal.
Thirdly, there may be areas where legal issues arise.
If foreign governments, foreign sovereign funds and royal background capital directly or in disguised form purchase Trump related crypto assets and project equity, or provide benefits for Trump family projects, they may encounter the Foreign Embodiments Clause of the US Constitution.
Any person holding a public office in the United States, as stated in the US Constitution, shall not receive gifts, rewards, positions, or titles from foreign monarchs, nobles, or foreign countries without the consent of Congress.
So projects such as World Liberty, USD1, and TRUMP may not necessarily be illegal in themselves, but if the buyer has foreign capital or the transaction price is clearly not the normal commercial price, legal risks will arise.
Fourth, the risk points of securities laws and investor protection.
World Liberty has disclosed on its website and materials that the Trump family will take away most of the revenue from token sales, and the materials also include a disclaimer stating that tokens are not investments and buyers should not expect profits. The TRUMP meme coin website also has a similar warning.
But if investors prove that the project has misleading marketing, concealed interest arrangements, manipulated the market, or made false statements, it may still trigger civil litigation or regulatory investigations. Until now, just because a project makes a lot of money, it cannot be directly deduced as illegal.
Fifth, the stablecoin also depends on whether the project meets regulatory requirements after the GENIUS Act.
The GENIUS Act establishes a federal regulatory framework for payment stablecoins and requires that entities issuing payment stablecoins in the United States must be approved issuers. Bank subsidiaries and federally qualified non bank issuers are subject to corresponding supervision.
If the USD1 or related stablecoin business meets regulatory requirements, then the business itself may be legalized. If there is no compliance qualification after the regulation is implemented, or if the structure bypasses the regulation, new problems will arise.
Therefore, legally speaking, it cannot be said that Trump's encryption revenue is illegal.
But in terms of political ethics, this matter is very ugly.
In particular, when Trump said that the United States would become the world's largest cryptocurrency country, the market heard of favorable policies and deregulation, the project party received the endorsement of the President, and Trump itself and family related entities also made money in this process, which is difficult to explain simply with "ordinary business behavior".
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