'If You Can Keep It': The Crypto President?

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🗓️ 12 May 2025

⏱️ 45 minutes

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Summary

President Donald Trump has been clear about wanting to make the U.S. the crypto capital of the world. What's becoming clearer is how much Trump is personally invested in the industry succeeding.

A new report from State Democracy Defenders Action finds that Trump's crypto holdings represent nearly 40 percent of his net worth. The president has his own meme coin and is offering a dinner and private White House tour to the highest investors.

Meanwhile, a recent deal by the Trump family's crypto firm, World Liberty Financial, to an Emirati state backed venture fund has raised eyebrows.

On Tuesday, Democratic Representative Maxine Waters of California blocked a joint hearing on cryptocurrency policy. On Thursday, a key cryptocurrency bill stalled over concerns of the president's crypto dealings.

We get into all of this during our latest installment of, "If You Can Keep It."

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, I'm Johnny O'Hanson, Jr.
0:02.7	Join me each week on In Black America
0:04.6	as we profile current and historically significant figures
0:08.0	whose stories help illuminate life in Black America.
0:11.4	You don't want to miss the conversation.
0:13.6	KUT Radio and In Black America are members of the NPR Network.
0:17.6	Thanks for listening to In Black America.
0:27.4	Thank you. Network. Thanks for listening to In Black America. Today we bring you another installment of If You Can Keep It, our weekly series on the
0:32.3	State of Our Democracy. Today, crypto and conflicts of interest.
0:36.2	The president has been clear about wanting to make the U.S. the crypto capital of the world.
0:41.6	What's becoming clearer is how much Donald Trump is personally invested in the industry succeeding.
0:48.3	A recent report from the state Democracy Defenders Action Group finds that Trump's crypto holdings represent nearly 40% of his
0:55.5	net worth, or approximately $2.9 billion. Part of that comes from the president's own
1:00.6	meme coin and the Trump family's crypto firm, World Liberty Financial.
1:04.6	These personal dealings are catching the attention of lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
1:09.0	On Thursday, a key cryptocurrency bill called the Genius Act
1:13.4	stalled over concerns of the president's crypto dealings. One of the loudest voices against that bill
1:19.3	was Democratic Senator from Oregon, Jeff Merkley. Earlier, Todd got an opportunity to speak with
1:25.1	Senator Merkley about why the bill failed and concerns about
1:28.5	the president's conflicts of interest. We kick off this installment of, if you can keep it,
1:32.8	with that conversation. I'm Jen White. And I'm Todd's Willick. You're listening to the 1A podcast. We'll
1:38.2	be back with more in just a moment. Stay with us.
	...

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