US senators are in tight negotiations over the language to establish regulated crypto markets, and as they debate the details, Senator Elizabeth Warren is looking to continue to shed light on President Donald Trump’s personal crypto ties.
The Massachusetts lawmaker, who is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee and a frequent ally, Sen. Jack Reed, sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Attorney General Pam Bondi requesting information about reports that Trump-linked World Liberty Financial Inc. sold tokens to “North Korea, Russia and other illegal actors.”
Such sales, highlighted by Accountable.us, a nonprofit group that investigates Washington influence, “raise serious questions about WLF’s due diligence policies or procedures, including whether its tokens or other products enable sanctions evasion, money laundering and terrorist financing,” the senators wrote.
Warren and some other Democrats in both the Senate and the House of Representatives have targeted the president’s business dealings with WLFI, saying they pose a significant conflict of interest as his administration seeks crypto-friendly policies that would directly benefit Trump’s financial interests.
Read more: Crypto critic Elizabeth Warren examines Trump’s Meme Coin Venture
Prolonged opposition from the ranking member of one of the two committees that must pass crypto legislation can usually spell doom for a legislative effort. Democrats on the Senate Banking Committee, however, have shown a split over crypto efforts, with Warren maintaining her stance that the industry is far too risky and the president dangerously conflicted, while other members continue to negotiate legislative language.
Advocates of the market structure bill still hope it will see a mark in that committee before the end of the year, though it is uncertain whether the other panel — the Senate Agriculture Committee — will be able to follow suit with its bill, which still has some significant holes. Crypto lobbyists have said in recent days that the closed-door talks among senators are unusually secretive, giving them some hope that serious language negotiations can take place.
While many Democrats have routinely demanded that the president and other senior officials be explicitly prohibited from maintaining business ties to crypto operations, Republican lawmakers have never conceded this point in their draft legislation.
Read more: State of Crypto: What’s in the New Draft Crypto Market Structure?
