Crypto Corruption

Autocracy in America

The Atlantic

Politics, Society & Culture, News

4.8 • 999 Ratings

🗓️ 16 January 2026

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Brandon LaRoque kept his life savings in a cryptocurrency account. One morning, as he went to check his balance, he discovered that it was all missing. LaRoque is one of many victims of the unregulated crypto industry. President Donald Trump has rolled back regulation of the industry, while he and his family have earned untold billions of dollars from new crypto ventures. Host Anne Applebaum talks with Molly White, a writer focused on the intersections of tech and finance. They discuss whether more people are bound to befall the same fate as LaRoque and how this new financial industry is shaping our politics and facilitating corruption within our government. Get more from your favorite Atlantic voices when you subscribe. You’ll enjoy unlimited access to Pulitzer-winning journalism, from clear-eyed analysis and insight on breaking news to fascinating explorations of our world. Atlantic subscribers also get access to exclusive subscriber audio in Apple Podcasts. Subscribe today at TheAtlantic.com/Listener. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	300 years of expertise in every twining sleep blend.
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0:14.0	One night of winding down in every drop.
0:18.0	Your moment of serenity.
0:21.6	Brought to you by twining sleep.
0:24.6	Twinings.
0:25.6	Alive in every drop.
0:28.6	Things tend to happen to me first
0:31.6	because I'm usually the one willing to try something new first
0:34.6	and I hope I'm not the canary in the coal mine.
0:44.8	From the Atlantic, this is Autocracy in America. I'm Ann Applebaum.
0:51.2	In this new season, I'm asking how the Trump White House is rewriting the rules of U.S. politics and talking to Americans whose lives have been changed as a result.
0:55.0	Today's episode, cryptocurrency and the crypto oligarchs whose campaign to prevent any regulation of their industry is corrupting the American economy as well as American politics.
1:08.0	Donald Trump was once skeptical of the crypto industry. Bitcoin, he once said,
1:13.7	seems like a scam. But since his inauguration, Trump and his family have turned 180 degrees
1:19.9	and made hundreds of millions of dollars from their own crypto company, World Liberty Financial.
1:25.5	At the same time, Trump has deregulated the crypto industry, making life easier for the oligarchs
1:31.6	who run it, and potentially allowing them to harm thousands of ordinary consumers.
1:37.3	Brandon LaRocque is one of those people.
1:39.5	A victim of what he says was a hack involving a crypto coin called XRP.
1:48.6	My name is Brandon LaRoke. I'm from Raleigh, North Carolina. I'm an Eagle Scout, I'm a veteran.
	...

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