Trump’s Embrace of Crypto Business Raises Ethics Alarms

KQED's Forum

KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 3 February 2025

⏱️ 57 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Donald Trump was once a cryptocurrency skeptic, saying as recently as 2021 that bitcoin “seems like a scam.” Today, some critics are saying the same thing about the president’s now fervent embrace of crypto, both in his business investments and policy decisions. During the campaign, Trump promised to make the United States the “crypto capital of the planet,” while taking tens of millions in donations from the industry. After the election, he and Melania Trump both touted the release of a crypto meme coin featuring their images. And last week, after making appointments and issuing executive orders aimed at boosting the industry, the president’s social media startup Truth Social announced plans to expand into crypto. Now some legal experts, and even industry leaders, are voicing serious ethics concerns. We’ll look at what Trump’s pro-crypto stance might mean for the future of digital assets, the economy, and national security. Guests: Andrew R. Chow, correspondent, Time; author, "Cryptomania: Hype, Hope, and the Fall of FTX's Billion-Dollar Fintech Empire" Zeke Faux, investigative reporter, Bloomberg; author "Number Go Up: Inside Crypto’s Wild Rise and Staggering Fall" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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1:04.8	cryptocurrency markets are tumbling today on news of Trump's tariffs. After riding a high
1:10.4	since the election, when candidate Trump
1:12.8	promised to make the U.S. quote, the crypto capital of the planet. He and Melania Trump have
1:18.6	released meme coins featuring their images, and last week the president's social media startup
1:24.1	announced plans to expand into crypto. This hour, we take a closer look at the
1:28.7	president's embrace of cryptocurrency and why it's raising not only ethics concerns, but also
1:34.9	national security concerns. Join us. Welcome to Forum. I'm Mina Kim. Just a few years ago, Donald Trump said that cryptocurrency
1:50.0	seemed like a scam. Here he is in 2021. Bitcoin, it just seems like a scam. I don't like it because it's another
1:57.4	currency competing against the dollar. But after taking tens of millions of dollars and donations from the industry and making his
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