The New York Times: Trump family's crypto fundraising is even worse than Watergate

Original Title: Teapot Dome. Watergate. They're Nothing Compared to This.

Original Author: Jacob Silverman (Author of "Gilded Rage: Elon Musk and the Radicalization of Silicon Valley")

Translated by: Kaori, Peggy, BlockBeats

Editor's Note: In the history of American politics, no president has ever intertwined national power, personal branding, and financial speculation into a global-scale experiment quite like Trump.

The combination of money and power is nothing new, but when this combination appears in the form of "tokens," when the image of a head of state is minted into a tradable asset, and when political influence can freely circulate on the blockchain, what we are facing is no longer corruption in the traditional sense, but a systemic reconstruction.

This article does not document a single scandal, but rather a paradigm shift: the president is no longer just a political figure, but becomes the largest token holder in a decentralized economy; diplomatic relations are no longer forged through secret talks, but are connected by wallet addresses. Technology, once seen as a guarantee of transparency and fairness, may now become a new power broker.

When cryptocurrency enters the White House, when the digital shadow of the dollar intertwines with national will, we must reconsider a question: in this era of "on-chain sovereignty," do the boundaries of power still exist?

The following is the original content.

The New Wallet of Power: How Cryptocurrency Entered the White House

If you are an authoritarian leader trying to influence another head of state, you might give him a luxuriously equipped Boeing 747; you might spend lavishly at his hotels or invest in the many businesses owned by him and his children; you could even buy his branded sneakers, NFTs, and other merchandise.

But in President Trump's case, potential "power brokers" have a much richer menu of options.

But now, all of these seem superfluous.

During the campaign, Trump announced his own cryptocurrency plan—World Liberty Financial—and launched a "meme coin" named after himself just days before taking office. Anyone who buys World Liberty tokens can indirectly funnel funds to the Trump family business. Through crypto projects controlled by the president, his son, and family friends, the Trump family has already accumulated billions of dollars in paper wealth.

World Liberty has become a powerful channel of influence: anyone—whether you, me, or a prince from the UAE—can fatten Trump's wallet simply by purchasing tokens issued by the company.

The key lies in this "convenience." For those seeking influence, suitcases full of cash and Swiss bank accounts have been replaced by crypto tokens that can be quickly transferred between wallets and exchanges. More sophisticated crypto users—state actors, hacker groups, money laundering organizations—can also use tools like "mixers" to obscure transaction traces.

It is precisely this convenience that has made cryptocurrency the tool of choice for criminal organizations and sanctions evaders.

The Illusion of Transparency: When Corruption Happens in the Name of "Decentralization"

This is unprecedented in American political history.

Looking back at past government scandals—corrupt aides around President Grant, oil lease bribes in the Teapot Dome scandal during Harding's era, and even Nixon's Watergate—none have seen a president so thoroughly mix personal and government interests on such a scale, nor has anyone extracted such enormous personal profit from it.

There is nothing innovative here; the only truly "novel" aspect is that the sitting president openly uses his name, image, and social media influence to promote crypto tokens that are almost indistinguishable from thousands of other products on the market. In the eyes of MAGA supporters and ordinary speculators, buying these tokens may mean "losing everything"; for a president to lead political supporters into such high-risk investments is, in itself, a condemnable act.

But the greater risk is that powerful foreign forces may use this to funnel huge sums of money to Trump.

For any head of state, buying Trump's tokens or investing in his crypto projects has become a direct act of political speculation.

This is precisely the perverse incentive created by Trump's "crypto donation box."

Take, for example, two recent multi-billion dollar deals involving one of the UAE's most influential figures—Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan—and Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff:

In the first deal, a state-owned investment fund led by Tahnoon pledged to invest $2 billion worth of USD1 stablecoins (issued by World Liberty Financial) in Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange. (Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies designed to maintain stable value and serve as "digital dollar" substitutes.)

It is worth noting that Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, after pleading guilty to money laundering, is now seeking a pardon from Trump.

In the second deal, Witkoff and Trump's appointed "AI and Crypto Head"—venture capitalist David Sacks—brokered an agreement allowing the UAE to purchase hundreds of thousands of high-end AI chips for data center construction. These chips are highly sought after in the global AI race and are subject to strict export controls. Experts worry that these chips may be resold or shared with Chinese companies by the UAE.

Although there is no conclusive evidence of explicit "quid pro quo" in these two deals, the participants and interest networks overlap significantly, and the pattern of mixing public and private interests is becoming a hallmark of the Trump administration.

Tahnoon's use of $2 billion worth of USD1 stablecoins is itself intriguing.

If his only goal was to invest in Binance, a direct wire transfer would suffice.

Choosing to use World Liberty Financial's USD1 stablecoin as an "intermediary" is essentially "blood transfusion" for a company that directly benefits Witkoff and Trump.

Despite the strong scent of scandal, most of Trump's crypto activities take place in relatively public settings.

Some notorious figures in the crypto space even flaunt their purchases of tens of millions of dollars' worth of WLFI tokens on social media.

The most active among them is Chinese crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun—he frequently showcases his large holdings of World Liberty and Trump meme coins on social media, positioning himself as a major supporter of Trump's crypto empire.

In February this year, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) asked a federal judge to pause its civil fraud lawsuit against Justin Sun, and the court granted the request. In May, as one of the top holders of Trump meme coins, Justin Sun was invited to a dinner at Trump's National Golf Club in Virginia—where he received a gold watch from the president.

In the past (just a few years ago), if a president were involved in such obvious conflicts of interest, Congress would have held hearings and law enforcement agencies would have launched investigations.

But the Supreme Court's recent ruling on "presidential immunity" has rendered these oversight mechanisms almost useless.

The Department of Justice will not prosecute a sitting president.

And at the start of his new term, Trump fired 18 inspectors general—key figures who could have exposed and investigated the government's crypto activities. In February this year, he also ordered the Department of Justice to suspend enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (which prohibits bribery of foreign officials), only resuming enforcement four months later.

Meanwhile, regulators have shifted their focus away from the crypto sector, and the Trump administration has helped advance a legislative agenda favored by the crypto industry.

The accumulation of crypto wealth by Trump and his children seems poised to continue growing throughout his term.

So far, there appears to be no "ceiling" to stop the continued inflow of foreign capital. This open door has paved the way for a level of top-tier corruption never before seen in America. And we must confront the dark possibilities it brings.