Most voters in the United States are not comfortable with President Donald Trump’s hand on the wheel of crypto industry oversight, with 62% saying they don’t trust his administration on that point, according to a survey commissioned by CoinDesk.
After the previous administration’s crackdown on crypto, Trump’s promise to make the US the “crypto capital of the world” revived hope in the sector. The president has deployed his White House to pave a broad path toward friendly crypto regulation. His administration named a high-profile crypto czar, issued orders to map out an industry agenda, named regulators who pledged to support friendly new regulations and nurtured legislation to create the first major US crypto law.
But the polling trend seems to show that Trump’s broader political popularity beyond crypto is steadily waning, and his approval rating among American voters is falling, with this latest poll putting it at 40%.
This article is part of a CoinDesk series on voter views of the 2026 midterm elections.
Almost half of respondents (45%) are also aware that the president and his family have built a profitable personal stake in the crypto industry, which includes partial ownership and control of World Liberty Financial and other digital asset interests. The survey revealed that 73% of the public oppose their senior officials – without identifying anyone in particular – having personal business relationships in the industry.
While Republicans are the most flexible on that point, a strong majority of 59% of GOP voters can’t stand that kind of tie either.
But most people don’t know the extent of Trump’s financial involvement, with only 17% of respondents aware that he and his sons supported the launch of World Liberty. Although the Trumps have many irons in crypto fires, World Liberty has attracted particular attention for a number of potential conflicts and controversies.
The online survey conducted last week was evenly split between voters who supported Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris in the last presidential election, so a large majority of respondents who doubt his administration’s crypto capabilities appears to demonstrate a shift since 2024 in the sentiment of some of Trump’s voters.
The White House did not respond to requests for comment, but a spokesperson for World Liberty responded to the poll data with a statement that Trump “committed to making the United States the crypto capital of the world, and World Liberty wholeheartedly supports that vision.”
“The president has consistently delivered on his promise to ensure that one of the most important technological breakthroughs of the century develops and thrives in America,” the company spokesman said.
Aside from people’s thoughts on Trump and government officials’ involvement in crypto, the survey of 1,000 registered voters conducted by research firm Public Opinion Strategies delved into perceptions of crypto and voter intentions in this year’s election, revealing that most maintain a distrust — or at best, an uncertainty — about the economy and their position in cryptocurrency. The snapshot of public opinion has a “credibility interval” of about 3.5%, which represents the statistical uncertainty in the survey results.
The crypto industry has had a touchy relationship with the president, cheering on his regulatory appointments and political choices, but quietly having to manage its own business involvement in the sector, which brought a host of challenges in lobbying for crypto legislation. The crypto world’s biggest goal in Washington is to get a new law formalizing US regulation of the industry, but Trump’s political opponents argue that it benefits his own interests. The current effort is known as the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, and while Trump’s White House has been one of its big boosters, his own crypto ties may get in the way.
The Clarity Act has already passed the US House of Representatives and is still a few steps away in the Senate, but one of the final sticking points is a Democratic request that it include a ban on the kind of personal crypto bonds that CoinDesk’s poll found most people oppose. The provision to bar senior officials from crypto interests was clearly on Trump’s mind when lawmakers called for it, and bipartisan negotiations over its potential form have spanned months and included back-and-forth exchanges of language ideas in recent days.
In previous attempts, White House officials have said they will not support a bill that targets the president or members of his family. It’s unclear how the final version will avoid influencing Trump while meeting Democrats’ expectations that it prevents government conflicts of interest.
The bill will need plenty of Democrats if it is ultimately expected to win the 60 votes typically required for legislation to gain Senate approval.
Last weekend, President Trump spoke at an event for a few hundred of the top investors in his self-branded memecoin $TRUMP. There, he assured the audience that the United States is “the leader in crypto.” He also told them that assets have “become mainstream.”
According to the CoinDesk survey, the industry has only become a regular part of life for a small part of the population – not quite mainstream. And most haven’t embraced the industry’s main political booster, Trump, as an industry watchdog they’re ready to trust.
CoinDesk will release data from this survey on Tuesday at Consensus Miami.
