Two Democrats in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives are calling for Acting Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Mark Weda to store information on the World’s Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency supported by President Donald Trump’s family.
In a letter on April 2nd, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Representative Maxine Waters (ranking members of the Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services Committee, respectively) asked Weda to inform Congress based on Trump’s relationship with World Liberty Financial (WLFI). Two lawmakers suggested that the SEC may be affected by the company, saying, “this conflict of interest could be a hindrance to its mission to protect investors and maintain a fair and orderly market.”
“The Trump family’s financial interests in the world’s Liberty Financial represent an unprecedented conflict of interest that could affect the Trump administration’s surveillance (or lack thereof) of the cryptocurrency industry, allowing the Trump administration to take a better position to direct federal agencies, including the SEC, and directly benefit the president’s family.
A letter to SEC Chairman Mark Ueda on April 2nd. Source: House of Representatives Financial Services Committee
The letter comes about a week after WLFI announced that it had launched Stablecoin, USD1 on the BNB chain and Ethereum blockchain. However, since January, Trump has followed several crypto policies and projects with potential conflicts of interest, including plans to establish a national cryptocurrency stockpile and the launch of Trump memokine.
Related: Does Crypto have regulatory capture issues in Washington?
According to Warren and Waters, Americans deserved transparency about how they could affect Trump’s crypto venture and the SEC’s policies, a financial regulator aimed at becoming independent from the administration. The two called on Weda to preserve WLFI-related records and communications from Trump and his family, as well as communications with the SEC.
“The American people deserve to know whether financial markets are fairly regulated or whether regulatory decisions are being made to benefit the financial interests of the president’s family,” the Democrat wrote.
The letter repeated discussions held at the House Financial Services Committee hearing on April 2. California lawmakers said Trump could set up WLFI stubcoins directly from his position as president for government payments and profits. Many other lawmakers and financial experts across the political spectrum have expressed concern over Trump’s potential conflict of interest with the crypto industry.
SEC Leadership under Trump
Since Trump appointed Weda as acting chairman, the SEC has dropped investigations and enforcement actions to several crypto companies, including executives who directly contributed to the president’s 2024 campaign.
Trump’s Paul Atkins, who will later chair the SEC after Weda, is expected to face a vote on the Senate Banking Committee on April 3. Once Atkins’ nomination is out of the committee, the full Chamber of Commerce decides whether to confirm him or not.
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