Did Trump’s regulators let crypto scammers off the hook — and who really benefited? 

Donald Trump and his family appear to be leveraging the Oval Office for crypto profits, critics say, as questionable dealings draw a light regulatory touch. 

♦️ The Securities and Exchange Commission under Trump has suddenly softened on crypto tycoons, dismissing or settling cases, according to the New York Times 

♦️ The SEC pulled its punches on crypto, shelving cases against the Winklevoss twins’ firm and Binance and easing up on Ripple Lab. All in all, after Trump’s return to the White House, the SEC relaxed enforcement in over 60% of active crypto cases, the NYT claims

♦️ But that’s not all: the newspaper found a correlation between regulatory leniency and crypto companies’ ties to Trump or his family business. Five firms whose cases were dismissed — including Binance, Coinbase, Consensys, Cumberland, and Kraken — had done favors for the Trumps’ businesses

Tron, Binance and Cumberland

🔴 Crypto mogul Justin Sun, who runs Tron, BitTorrent and Rainberry, bought $75 million worth of digital tokens from World Liberty Financial, a Trump-family linked crypto project. In a sudden twist, the SEC case against Tron was put on hold earlier this year

🔴 Just weeks before the Binance head Changpeng Zhao was pardoned in October 2025, his firm settled a $2 billion deal with Abu Dhabi’s MGX using USD1, a token created by World Liberty Financial

🔴 In March, the SEC dropped its case against crypto trader Cumberland; weeks later, its parent company DRW invested roughly $100 million in the Trump family’s media company 

In July, Bloomberg flagged the Trump family’s use of the presidency to profit from crypto. Critics say Trump’s stablecoin Genius Act strengthened those interests — and now the family appears to be leveraging regulators to cash in even further.