Newsletter: Three major crypto schemes in a single week underscore how aggressively Trump is leveraging the presidency for illegal personal gain. This blatant corruption has sparked Democratic outcry, blockage of a crypto bill, and a Senate PSI inquiry.
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@molly0xfff It's like the only department of the Trump crime family ever active is the Grifting Department.
Same as it ever was.
Last week, Trump’s World Liberty Financial project announced a lucrative deal: its brand new USD1 stablecoin will be used for a $2 billion deal between the Emirati MGX investment firm and the Binance crypto exchange.
#crypto #cryptocurrency #USpolitics #USpol
![Onstage in Dubai with shady crypto billionaire Justin Sun [I71], President Trump’s son Eric and World Liberty Financial co-founder Zach Witkoff announced that the state-backed Emirati investment firm MGX would be taking a $2 billion stake in the Binance cryptocurrency exchange, using the World Liberty-issued USD1 stablecoin to complete the transaction. USD1 is a brand new stablecoin, and there’s little reason to use the unproven token over a traditional financial transfer or more established stablecoin other than to cozy up to the Trumps. World Liberty Financial, the Trump venture that issues USD1, profits from deals like this by earning yield on the stablecoin’s backing assets, which function essentially as an interest-free loan to the Trumps. “Virtually every detail of [the] announcement ... contained a conflict of interest,” observed the New York Times.
Photograph of Justin Sun, Zach Witkoff, and Eric Trump onstage at Token2049 in Dubai](/proxy/post_attachment/496770/30976b607c.png "Onstage in Dubai with shady crypto billionaire Justin Sun [I71], President Trump’s son Eric and World Liberty Financial co-founder Zach Witkoff announced that the state-backed Emirati investment firm MGX would be taking a $2 billion stake in the Binance cryptocurrency exchange, using the World Liberty-issued USD1 stablecoin to complete the transaction. USD1 is a brand new stablecoin, and there’s little reason to use the unproven token over a traditional financial transfer or more established stablecoin other than to cozy up to the Trumps. World Liberty Financial, the Trump venture that issues USD1, profits from deals like this by earning yield on the stablecoin’s backing assets, which function essentially as an interest-free loan to the Trumps. “Virtually every detail of [the] announcement ... contained a conflict of interest,” observed the New York Times.
Photograph of Justin Sun, Zach Witkoff, and Eric Trump onstage at Token2049 in Dubai")
A Texas transportation firm announced it plans to buy up to $20 million TRUMP tokens explicitly because they believe buying the tokens is “an effective way to advocate for fair, balanced, and free trade between Mexico and the US.”
Multiple Democratic Congresspeople are calling for investigations and demanding info, and Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) has opened a preliminary inquiry by the Homeland Security Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations into “Trump’s crypto-backed plan to auction off access to the White House.”
Trump’s grifts are causing problems with crypto legislation. Dem Senators mounted unanimous opposition to the GENIUS Act stablecoin bill after Trump’s $2 billion deal. Some Congresspeople are calling for new legislation to limit officeholders’ crypto involvement.
![Some Democrats cited corruption as their reason for opposing the bill. Others, like crypto-backed Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), said they merely opposed it because the vote was premature, and they hadn’t reviewed a final version with Democrat-negotiated amendments.36 The two Republicans who voted against the bill were Josh Hawley (MO) and Rand Paul (KY). Hawley said he wanted prohibitions against big tech firms issuing stablecoins;37 Paul’s concerns were rooted in fears that the regulations might stifle the crypto industry.38 Majority leader John Thune (R-SD) switched his vote to oppose the bill for procedural reasons, allowing him to reintroduce it later. Republicans were furious at the bill’s failure, with Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott (R-SC) threatening “painful” political consequences for the Democratic Senators.39 Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) accused Democrats of “unilaterally ced[ing] American leadership capability in the digital asset industry to the CCP because they fear the far-left radicals of their party”.40
House opposition
In the House, Democrats led by Maxine Waters (CA) blocked a hearing on digital assets and the FIT21 crypto market structure bill, instead opting to convene their own discussion about President Trump’s crypto conflicts of interest. Waters demanded a change to the legislation to prevent presidents and Congresspeople from owning cryptocurrency firms or cryptocurrencies themselves.41 Representative Torres (D-NY) has separately announced he plans to int](/proxy/post_attachment/496774/59fb322078.png "Some Democrats cited corruption as their reason for opposing the bill. Others, like crypto-backed Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), said they merely opposed it because the vote was premature, and they hadn’t reviewed a final version with Democrat-negotiated amendments.36 The two Republicans who voted against the bill were Josh Hawley (MO) and Rand Paul (KY). Hawley said he wanted prohibitions against big tech firms issuing stablecoins;37 Paul’s concerns were rooted in fears that the regulations might stifle the crypto industry.38 Majority leader John Thune (R-SD) switched his vote to oppose the bill for procedural reasons, allowing him to reintroduce it later. Republicans were furious at the bill’s failure, with Banking Committee Chair Tim Scott (R-SC) threatening “painful” political consequences for the Democratic Senators.39 Senator Bill Hagerty (R-TN) accused Democrats of “unilaterally ced[ing] American leadership capability in the digital asset industry to the CCP because they fear the far-left radicals of their party”.40
House opposition
In the House, Democrats led by Maxine Waters (CA) blocked a hearing on digital assets and the FIT21 crypto market structure bill, instead opting to convene their own discussion about President Trump’s crypto conflicts of interest. Waters demanded a change to the legislation to prevent presidents and Congresspeople from owning cryptocurrency firms or cryptocurrencies themselves.41 Representative Torres (D-NY) has separately announced he plans to int")
The CFTC has dropped its appeal, ending a case against the Kalshi (non-crypto-based) prediction markets platform over its election betting markets. Donald Trump Jr. joined Kalshi as an adviser in January.
![In regulators
The CFTC has dropped its appeal of a September 2024 decision that found the regulator had overstepped when they blocked Kalshi, a non-crypto-based prediction markets company, from offering betting markets on US elections [I66].2930 President Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., joined Kalshi as a senior adviser in January 2025.
FinCEN has designated the Cambodian Huione marketplace and payment services provider a “primary money laundering concern”. Last year, blockchain research firm Elliptic reported that the firm enabled romance scams and other illicit activity [I62]. The Treasury Department seems to agree, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent adding that “Huione Group has established itself as the marketplace of choice for malicious cyber actors like the DPRK and criminal syndicates, who have stolen billions of dollars from everyday Americans”.31](/proxy/post_attachment/496775/8a3f23c851.png "In regulators
The CFTC has dropped its appeal of a September 2024 decision that found the regulator had overstepped when they blocked Kalshi, a non-crypto-based prediction markets company, from offering betting markets on US elections [I66].2930 President Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., joined Kalshi as a senior adviser in January 2025.
FinCEN has designated the Cambodian Huione marketplace and payment services provider a “primary money laundering concern”. Last year, blockchain research firm Elliptic reported that the firm enabled romance scams and other illicit activity [I62]. The Treasury Department seems to agree, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent adding that “Huione Group has established itself as the marketplace of choice for malicious cyber actors like the DPRK and criminal syndicates, who have stolen billions of dollars from everyday Americans”.31")
@molly0xfff re "rather than addressing it directly through impeachment", that didn't work out too well during Trump 1.0, sadly. The guy wasn't kidding when he said he could shoot someone in the middle of Fifth Avenue and get away with it
@funcrunch indeed, and i’m sure they’d have trouble now too, but it still just feels silly to say “well we’re writing a law to say you can’t break the law!”
Crypto lending is making a comeback with the SEC standing down. The Nexo platform exited the US after paying $45 million in fines to regulators; now they’ve announced they’re coming back at an event they hosted in Bulgaria titled “Trump Business Vision 2025”, which featured Donald Trump Jr.
![SEC
The cryptocurrency lending platform Nexo exited the United States in 2022, amid increased scrutiny from regulators towards crypto lending firms in general following the catastrophic collapse of companies including Celsius, BlockFi, and Voyager. The firm faced significant regulatory actions in the United States, including from the Securities and Exchange Commission, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and eight state regulators [W3IGG]. Nexo ultimately settled with the SEC and state regulators for $45 million in January 2023 [W3IGG].
Now, with the SEC defanged, Nexo is ready to make its comeback. At an event Nexo hosted in its native Bulgaria, titled “Trump Business Vision 2025” and featuring Donald Trump Jr. as a headline speaker, Nexo announced their return to the US for both retail and institutional investors with “high-yield crypto savings accounts, asset-backed credit lines, advanced trading, and institutional-grade liquidity solutions”.32 They added, “Thanks to the vision and leadership of President Donald J. Trump, his administration, and his family, the United States is once again a place where innovation is championed, not stifled.”33](/proxy/post_attachment/496777/4412aecd6b.png "SEC
The cryptocurrency lending platform Nexo exited the United States in 2022, amid increased scrutiny from regulators towards crypto lending firms in general following the catastrophic collapse of companies including Celsius, BlockFi, and Voyager. The firm faced significant regulatory actions in the United States, including from the Securities and Exchange Commission, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and eight state regulators [W3IGG]. Nexo ultimately settled with the SEC and state regulators for $45 million in January 2023 [W3IGG].
Now, with the SEC defanged, Nexo is ready to make its comeback. At an event Nexo hosted in its native Bulgaria, titled “Trump Business Vision 2025” and featuring Donald Trump Jr. as a headline speaker, Nexo announced their return to the US for both retail and institutional investors with “high-yield crypto savings accounts, asset-backed credit lines, advanced trading, and institutional-grade liquidity solutions”.32 They added, “Thanks to the vision and leadership of President Donald J. Trump, his administration, and his family, the United States is once again a place where innovation is championed, not stifled.”33")
Edited 32d ago
In the courts, Celsius founder Alex Mashinsky has been sentenced to twelve years in prison for the Celsius fraud, which resulted in customers losing over half a billion dollars.
![Alex Mashinsky has been sentenced to twelve years in prison for his Celsius fraud, which culminated in the mid-2022 collapse of the US-based cryptocurrency lending firm, causing over half a billion dollars in customer losses [I82, 71]. The government had requested a 20-year sentence; Mashinsky asked for just a single year of imprisonment. Mashinsky pleaded guilty to fraud in December, just before his case was set to go to trial, and that plea was a major factor in his receiving a substantially shorter sentence than Sam Bankman-Fried’s 25 years.
Photo of Alex Mashinsky on stage, wearing a shirt with the Celsius logo and the slogan “Banks are not your friends”. CC BY 2.0, WebSummit, https://flic.kr/p/2mGvJLc](/proxy/post_attachment/496779/0719eef7cb.png "Alex Mashinsky has been sentenced to twelve years in prison for his Celsius fraud, which culminated in the mid-2022 collapse of the US-based cryptocurrency lending firm, causing over half a billion dollars in customer losses [I82, 71]. The government had requested a 20-year sentence; Mashinsky asked for just a single year of imprisonment. Mashinsky pleaded guilty to fraud in December, just before his case was set to go to trial, and that plea was a major factor in his receiving a substantially shorter sentence than Sam Bankman-Fried’s 25 years.
Photo of Alex Mashinsky on stage, wearing a shirt with the Celsius logo and the slogan “Banks are not your friends”. CC BY 2.0, WebSummit, https://flic.kr/p/2mGvJLc")
Edited 32d ago
Nothing sez "Back 2 Business in AMERIKA" better than holding your launch party in <checks notes> Bulgaria.
![Avi Eisenberg has been sentenced to four years and four months in prison for possession of child sexual abuse material, a crime that was discovered during a law enforcement search of his devices while investigating his $110 million exploit of the Mango Markets cryptocurrency platform [W3IGG, I6, 43, 55, 56, 67, 81]. The judge declined to impose a sentence for the crypto crime, citing the defense’s request for an acquittal or retrial, but noted that the majority of Eisenberg’s sentence would likely stem from the CSAM conviction regardless.21](/proxy/post_attachment/496780/24a75d966e.png "Avi Eisenberg has been sentenced to four years and four months in prison for possession of child sexual abuse material, a crime that was discovered during a law enforcement search of his devices while investigating his $110 million exploit of the Mango Markets cryptocurrency platform [W3IGG, I6, 43, 55, 56, 67, 81]. The judge declined to impose a sentence for the crypto crime, citing the defense’s request for an acquittal or retrial, but noted that the majority of Eisenberg’s sentence would likely stem from the CSAM conviction regardless.21")
@molly0xfff TLDR - not Celsius energy drinks, you are safe… for now xD
@molly0xfff Can we get a CryptoBros are not your friends merch?
@AmbianceAsunder I have a low caffeine tolerance so I suspect Celsius energy drinks present a different form of danger to me specifically
Also, the trial has begun against SafeMoon CEO John Karony, the thief suspected to have exploited Nomad bridge has been arrested, and Shaq has settled with FTX customers.
![The criminal trial against former SafeMoon CEO John Karony has begun in the Eastern District of New York, with prosecutors already launching into key testimony from cooperating witness and former SafeMoon CTO, Thomas “Papa” Smith. Smith was the second of three executives charged in November 2023 with conspiracy to commit securities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering, and he pleaded guilty. The third executive, Kyle Nagy, is still in the wind. Karony argues that because SafeMoon investors could theoretically have traced public blockchain transactions to observe that he and others were draining money from the liquidity pools, it wasn’t fraud (despite their representations that the pool was locked). For detailed coverage, David Z. Morris is there in person covering the trial for Protos, his Dark Markets newsletter, and on social media.
Alexander Gurevich, accused of crafting the August 2022 exploit that enabled a $190 million theft from the Nomad bridge [W3IGG], has been arrested in Israel and is in the process of being extradited to the United States. Although Gurevich was the first to identify the vulnerability, he’s only accused of stealing about $3 million; the remaining amount was stolen in a mad scramble of copycats replicating his exploit. He was reportedly arrested at the Tel Aviv airport en route to Russia, where he has dual citizenship, and was attempting to travel under a different identity after changing his name the prior week.22](/proxy/post_attachment/496781/91da0e33cd.png "The criminal trial against former SafeMoon CEO John Karony has begun in the Eastern District of New York, with prosecutors already launching into key testimony from cooperating witness and former SafeMoon CTO, Thomas “Papa” Smith. Smith was the second of three executives charged in November 2023 with conspiracy to commit securities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering, and he pleaded guilty. The third executive, Kyle Nagy, is still in the wind. Karony argues that because SafeMoon investors could theoretically have traced public blockchain transactions to observe that he and others were draining money from the liquidity pools, it wasn’t fraud (despite their representations that the pool was locked). For detailed coverage, David Z. Morris is there in person covering the trial for Protos, his Dark Markets newsletter, and on social media.
Alexander Gurevich, accused of crafting the August 2022 exploit that enabled a $190 million theft from the Nomad bridge [W3IGG], has been arrested in Israel and is in the process of being extradited to the United States. Although Gurevich was the first to identify the vulnerability, he’s only accused of stealing about $3 million; the remaining amount was stolen in a mad scramble of copycats replicating his exploit. He was reportedly arrested at the Tel Aviv airport en route to Russia, where he has dual citizenship, and was attempting to travel under a different identity after changing his name the prior week.22")
The Samourai Wallet case is on hold while the government decides whether to dismiss the criminal case based on Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s instructions to deprioritize enforcement of crypto crime. They’re charged with operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and money laundering conspiracy.
Samourai defendants have also accused prosecutors of withholding evidence that FinCEN representatives didn’t believe Samourai was a MSB, and have requested a hearing about a potential Brady violation. Prosecutors argue this was not an official position by FinCEN, and that the evidence was disclosed in a sufficiently timely fashion.
![After the joint request, the defense also submitted a letter accusing prosecutors of improperly suppressing evidence that “senior representatives” at FinCEN believed Samourai Wallet didn’t function as a money services business. “It’s hard to imagine a clearer example of ‘regulation by prosecution’ than what we have here: The relevant regulator telling the prosecutors that Samourai Wallet was not a money transmitter — under the same public guidance that Mr. Rodriguez and Mr. Hill relied on to guide their conduct — and the prosecutors going ahead and indicting them for operating an unlicensed money services business anyway,” wrote the defense team. They have asked the judge to hold a hearing regarding the late disclosure, which they argue was a Brady violation that could have influenced the Magistrate Judge’s bail determinations and Judge Berman’s decision not to allow the defendants to file a motion to dismiss immediately after their arraignment.27
The government replied to characterize the call described in the disclosure as merely “FinCEN employees express[ing] their individual, informal, and caveated opinion”, writing that “the individual employees of FinCEN were not speaking on behalf of FinCEN, they were not providing FinCEN’s opinion, and they ‘did not have a sense of what FinCen would decide if this question were presented to their FinCen policy committee.’” Prosecutors also argue the evidence was provided in a sufficiently timely fashion for the defense team to use in](/proxy/post_attachment/496785/5c5f66e32a.png "After the joint request, the defense also submitted a letter accusing prosecutors of improperly suppressing evidence that “senior representatives” at FinCEN believed Samourai Wallet didn’t function as a money services business. “It’s hard to imagine a clearer example of ‘regulation by prosecution’ than what we have here: The relevant regulator telling the prosecutors that Samourai Wallet was not a money transmitter — under the same public guidance that Mr. Rodriguez and Mr. Hill relied on to guide their conduct — and the prosecutors going ahead and indicting them for operating an unlicensed money services business anyway,” wrote the defense team. They have asked the judge to hold a hearing regarding the late disclosure, which they argue was a Brady violation that could have influenced the Magistrate Judge’s bail determinations and Judge Berman’s decision not to allow the defendants to file a motion to dismiss immediately after their arraignment.27
The government replied to characterize the call described in the disclosure as merely “FinCEN employees express[ing] their individual, informal, and caveated opinion”, writing that “the individual employees of FinCEN were not speaking on behalf of FinCEN, they were not providing FinCEN’s opinion, and they ‘did not have a sense of what FinCen would decide if this question were presented to their FinCen policy committee.’” Prosecutors also argue the evidence was provided in a sufficiently timely fashion for the defense team to use in")
![Samourai Wallet
Prosecutors who filed charges a year ago against the operators of Samourai Wallet [I56, 57, 67] have joined the defense in requesting a pause in the case “while the Government determines its position” on a request to dismiss the case based on Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s “Memorandum on Ending Regulation by Prosecution” [I81].24 The memo directed the Justice Department “not [to] charge regulatory violations in cases involving digital assets … unless there is evidence that the defendant knew of the licensing or registration requirement at issue and violated such a requirement willfully”.25 The Samourai Wallet defendants are charged with conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business — one of the violations Blanche instructed prosecutors not to charge — but also with money laundering conspiracy.26](/proxy/post_attachment/496784/c415e8f677.png "Samourai Wallet
Prosecutors who filed charges a year ago against the operators of Samourai Wallet [I56, 57, 67] have joined the defense in requesting a pause in the case “while the Government determines its position” on a request to dismiss the case based on Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s “Memorandum on Ending Regulation by Prosecution” [I81].24 The memo directed the Justice Department “not [to] charge regulatory violations in cases involving digital assets … unless there is evidence that the defendant knew of the licensing or registration requirement at issue and violated such a requirement willfully”.25 The Samourai Wallet defendants are charged with conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business — one of the violations Blanche instructed prosecutors not to charge — but also with money laundering conspiracy.26")
All this and more in the latest issue of Citation Needed. And don’t forget there’s an audio version available on the page or in your favorite podcasting platform, if that’s your preference: https://pod.link/1719025552