Exclusive: Democrats target Trump family's crypto empire
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Senate Democrats are unveiling a sweeping new proposal to ban presidents, lawmakers and their families from issuing, endorsing or sponsoring crypto assets, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: Concerns over the Trump family's crypto ventures is threatening the passage of the bipartisan GENIUS Act, the Senate's first-ever stablecoin regulation.
- Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) said in a private meeting last week, first reported by Axios, that the GENIUS Act lacks basic guardrails against corruption.
Driving the news: Merkley will introduce the End Crypto Corruption Act on Tuesday, which would ban the president, vice president, members of Congress and their immediate families from issuing digital assets, such as meme coins and stablecoins.
- Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) are co-sponsoring the new Merkley legislation.
Between the lines: Senate Democrats abruptly stepped away from supporting the GENIUS Act after an internal spat — first reported by Axios — over whether the party should back its passage without any changes.
- Progressive Democrats raised concerns after the New York Times reported that President Trump's family members could profit from the $2 billion worth of their stablecoins that would be used for a foreign transaction involving an Abu Dhabi investment fund.
- Data from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis on Monday showed that the issuers of Trump's meme coin, Official Trump, had earned $320 million from trading fees so far.
Zoom in: Schumer told his caucus last week to hold back their support of the GENIUS Act so they could force changes to the legislation.
- Merkley said in a "dear colleague" letter to lawmakers on Monday that his bill would "address and curb the corruption that the Trump Administration is potentially engaging in."
- "Democrats who both support and oppose the GENIUS Act agree that greenlighting Donald Trump's corrupt stablecoin deals is wrong," Warren said in a statement. "We need to make sure we fix this in the bill, or else the GENIUS Act will simply facilitate Trump's crypto corruption."
- Senate Republican leadership has indicated they still plan to move ahead with the GENIUS Act on the Senate floor as soon as this week.
Zoom out: On the House side this morning, a joint hearing of two committees that deal with digital assets was canceled after Democrats, led by Rep. Maxine Waters (D.-Calif.), withdrew unanimous consent.
- Waters then held a separate event for Democrats where they discussed the same issues as those driving the Merkley legislation.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to clarify that it was according to Chainalysis data, not a report issued by the company, that the Official Trump meme coin has earned $320 million so far.
