03-29-2025 
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Donald Trump is launching more ‘crypto’ money-making projects, including a stablecoin that might one day be used for federal government payments.
- World Liberty Financial confirms stablecoin plans
- Trump to ‘modernize’ government payments with digital assets
- Trump Media picks Crypto.com for ETFs
- Crypto.com’s reanimation of 70 billion CRO suddenly makes sense
- Trump still pumping memecoin while in office
- Ripple gets $75 million SEC refund
- SEC sheds 750 staff as incoming chair preps for confirmation hearing
- FDIC doesn’t give a damn about crypto’s bad reputation
On March 24, sharp-eyed sleuths revealed that the Trump-controlled decentralized finance (DeFi) project World Liberty Financial (WLF) appeared to have launched a dollar-denominated stablecoin called USD1. The token was launched on the Binance Smart Chain (aka BNB Chain) with a market cap of $3.5 million. The Wintermute crypto market-maker reportedly participated in the launch.
Binance founder Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao tweeted that the USD1 smart contract had been deployed “20 days ago.” CZ followed up that tweet by warning that “a lot of scammers created coins with the same name,” but the official token “is not tradable yet.”
CZ’s warning was echoed the same day by the official WLF ‘X’ account, which cautioned individuals to beware of scams pending an official announcement. On March 25, WLF confirmed the launch, saying USD1 will “initially” be launched on the Binance and Ethereum networks, “with plans to expand to other protocols in the future.”
Last October, WLF added Rich Teo, co-founder of stablecoin issuer Paxos, as WLF’s new stablecoin & payments lead. One month later, WLF announced plans to launch a stablecoin but little more was heard of these plans until this week.
WLF co-founder Zach Witkoff said USD1 “provides what algorithmic and anonymous crypto projects cannot—access to the power of DeFi underpinned by the credibility and safeguards of the most respected names in traditional finance … sovereign investors and major institutions can confidently integrate [USD1] into their strategies for seamless, secure cross-border transactions.”
USD1’s reserve assets will be “audited regularly by a third-party accounting firm” that, for the time being, shall remain nameless. The reserves will be custodied by BitGo, whose CEO Mike Belshe claimed that USD1 “represents a significant advancement in institutional-ready digital assets” (for reasons that aren’t immediately obvious). BitGo will also support USD1 via its brokerage service BitGo Prime, offering institutional clients “access to deep liquidity and trading.”
For what it’s worth, BitGo was one of two digital asset-related investments that White House ‘AI & Crypto Czar’ David Sacks declined to divest himself from to downplay the perception that he was profiting off the administration’s pro-crypto stance. BitGo, which also has links to WLF ‘advisor’ Justin Sun, is reportedly mulling an initial public offering thanks to America’s new crypto-friendly vibe (and its close ties to the administration).
Not a CBDC, a DJTDC
Intriguingly, the same day WLF confirmed its stablecoin plans, Trump issued an executive order aimed at ‘modernizing payments to and from America’s bank account.’ As of September 30, the federal government will “cease issuing paper checks for all disbursements, including intragovernmental payments, benefits, vendor payments, and tax refunds.”
Instead, “all executive departments and agencies must transition to modern, electronic funds transfer (EFT) methods like direct deposit, debit/credit card payments, digital wallets, and real-time transfers.” The shift is warranted because “digital payments are more efficient, less costly, and less vulnerable to fraud.”
The order plainly shows that this “does not establish a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC).” Perhaps, but given Trump’s ever-expanding involvement in all things crypto, we suspect Americans will become extremely acquainted with his new company scrip, er, stablecoin, very soon.
Trump Media launching ETFs with Crypto.com
March 24 also brought updates on another Trump-linked crypto venture from his Trump Media and Technology Group (TMTG), the Truth Social platform operator. In February, TMTG announced plans to launch a series of ‘customized’ exchange-traded funds (ETFs) under the Truth.fi banner so “real Americans” could invest in “a competitive alternative to the woke funds.”
On Monday, TMTG announced that it had signed “a non-binding agreement to partner with Crypto.com” on the launch of these ETFs. Pending regulatory approval, the Truth.fi ETFs hope to launch in America, Europe and Asia later this year.
The Truth.fi ETFs will be made available via Crypto.com’s broker-dealer Foris Capital LLC and are expected to comprise “securities with a Made in America focus” as well as “a unique ETF basked of cryptocurrencies incorporating Bitcoin, Cronos [CRO] and other crypto assets.” CRO is the native token of Crypto.com’s Cronos Chain, and its inclusion in TMTG’s ETF plans caused its fiat value to soar by one-third in just 24 hours.
News of TMTG’s tie-up with Crypto.com caused alarm in certain circles, and not just because TMTG’s red-white-and-blue messaging clashes with the fact that Crypto.com is based in Singapore.
CRO nuts
On March 2, Crypto.com proposed reissuing the 70 billion CRO tokens (worth $6.3 billion at the time) that had been burned in 2021, restoring the total amount of available CRO to its original 100 billion. The stated goal of this reanimation was to secure “a position among the top 10 protocols” and drive “institutional adoption of CRO.”
The proposal was going down to defeat until March 16, when a sudden influx of 3.35 billion CRO tipped the scales in favor of the reissue. The influx came from a few ‘whale’ validators, all of whom (a) are controlled by Crypto.com, and (b) voted in favor of the proposal. This thumb-on-the-scale intervention led to sarcastic praise for the protocol’s ‘decentralization.’
Blockchain sleuth ZachXBT didn’t pull his punches, tweeting on March 24 that “CRO is no different from a scam” because it “went against the community wishes as you control majority of the supply.” ZachXBT twisted the knife further, wondering “why [TMTG] would chose [sic] a partnership with your exchange over Coinbase, Kraken, Gemini, etc. after this move by your team.”
That public slam earned ZachXBT a block by Crypto.com CEO Kris Marszalek, who was an invited guest at Trump’s inauguration in January and also attended the White House’s inaugural ‘crypto summit’ earlier this month. Crypto.com was also one of the many crypto firms that anted up at least $1 million for Trump’s inauguration committee.
Speaking on an ‘Ask Me Anything’ session on X on Monday, Marszalek said Crypto.com and the Cronos Chain “have been running separately for years.” Marszalek defended reviving the burnt CRO because “we have strong support” from the Trump administration and there’s “a need for an aggressive investment to win.”Marszalek added that “this is what the community wants,” which, given the new understanding of what ‘community’ means in terms of governance votes, may not have landed the way Marszalek likely intended.
How doth Trump grift thee? Let me grift the ways…
President Trump was criticized for issuing his own memecoin ($TRUMP) in January, just days before he took the oath of office. This month, the Financial Times reported that the entities behind $TRUMP made over $350 million from sales and trading fees, while over 800,000 $TRUMP buyers are currently underwater. Regardless, Trump’s defenders argued that the launch happened when he was still a private citizen, so it was okay.
But Trump destroyed that argument on March 23 when he posted a $TRUMP promo to his Truth Social account, saying, “I LOVE $TRUMP — SO COOL!!! The Greatest of them ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” TRUMP’s fiat value, which had been hovering below $11 at the time, briefly rocketed to $12.25 before sinking back to $11.45 a couple hours later.
Meanwhile, WLF has sold $550 million worth of its ‘governance’ token WLFI, of which 75% (roughly $390 million) is owed to DT Marks DEFI LLC, a Trump-controlled entity, under the terms stated on the WLF site.
The sales are all the more impressive, considering WLFI can’t be traded on secondary markets and is currently only good for voting on proposals for WLF activities. Oddly enough, there doesn’t appear to have been any ‘vote’ on the specifics of USD1.
While Trump’s pro-crypto moves have been greeted with rapturous applause from most crypto bros, Business Insider published a series of quotes from tech leaders who are growing ‘annoyed’ by some of Trump’s personal crypto ventures. One anonymous ‘Silicon Valley executive’ expressed concern that “the people surrounding Trump are all scamsters. They are getting rich off our votes, our dollars and our time.”
A ’venture capitalist who is a major backer of conservative news networks’ warned that Steve Witkoff—a WLF co-founder and Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East—is “calling every sovereign government and saying, ‘You need to support this coin if you want to be in good standing with Trump.’’ Which coin? TRUMP? WLFI? USD1? Does it even matter anymore?
Meanwhile, last week saw the president’s son Hunter, sorry, Eric, appointed to the strategic board of advisers of Burisma, sorry, Japanese investment firm Metaplanet (JPX: 3350.T). Metaplanet, which launched a BTC-focused ‘strategic treasury reserve’ last year that now holds 3,350 tokens, said Eric’s “business acumen, love of the Bitcoin community and global hospitality perspective will be invaluable.” No doubt.
Ripple refund
Last week, Ripple Labs CEO Brad Garlinghouse announced that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was dropping its appeal of the $125 million judgment a federal court imposed on the XRP token-issuer last August. The SEC had been seeking $2 billion from Ripple and promptly announced its intention to appeal the August ruling.
However, the new-look SEC has zero interest in pursuing crypto-focused litigation launched under the previous regime. Ripple’s chief legal officer Stuart Alderoty tweeted Tuesday that Ripple “has now agreed to drop its cross-appeal” in what Alderoty said was likely “my last update on SEC v Ripple ever.”
In an interview with Bloomberg last week, Garlinghouse said Ripple “wouldn’t mind” getting that $125 million back. Alderoty said Tuesday that a deal had been reached in which the SEC “will keep $50M of the $125M fine (already in an interest-bearing escrow in cash), with the balance returned to Ripple.”
While the SEC will still need to vote on this decision, Alderoty said the regulator “will also ask the Court to lift the standard injunction that was imposed earlier at the SEC’s request.” That injunction permanently restrained and enjoined Ripple from violating Section 5 of the Securities Act of 1933, which requires issuers to register non-exempt securities with the SEC.
SEC staff shrinks as incoming chairman preps for hearing
The SEC appears desperate to play the ostrich when it comes to digital assets, at least when it comes to enforcement efforts. On March 24, Reuters quoted the SEC’s interim enforcement director Sam Waldon saying that the SEC was turning its focus back to more traditional cases, like individual wrongdoing—rather than corporate crypto malfeasance—and fraud targeting senior citizens.
There will be fewer SEC agents to look into wrongdoing, as Politico reported last week that as many as 750 members of the agency’s 5,000-strong staff are “expected to leave in the coming weeks and months.” The SEC recently offered staff up to $50,000 to voluntarily resign or retire by April 4, with interested parties required to submit their applications to GTFO by March 21.
Paul Atkins, Trump’s nominee to serve as SEC chairman, will be grilled by the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday, March 27. The GOP-controlled committee is expected to give Atkins an easy time despite financial disclosures showing Atkins and his wife are worth at least $327 million.
Atkins’ investments reportedly include a stake of between $1 million to $5 million in a fund managed by digital asset investment firm Off the Chain Capital, along with smaller stakes in digital asset custodian Anchorage Digital and tokenization platform Securitize. Given the example set by the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Atkins might need to boost those conflicts ASAP.
FIDC doesn’t give a damn about your bad reputation
In February, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Acting Chair Travis Hill issued a statement saying the new FDIC regime was “actively reevaluating our supervisory approach to crypto-related activities.”
On March 24, Hill sent a letter to Rep. Dan Meuser (R-PA) informing him that the banking supervisor is “actively working on a rulemaking to ensure supervisors do not criticize activities or actions on the basis of reputational risk, which we expect to be able to issue in the near-future.”
Crypto czar Sacks called the FDIC decision a “big win for crypto” that would eliminate the “vague and subjective criteria” that resulted in the crypto conspiracy theory known as Operation Choke Point 2.0. That theory is based on the belief that banks turfed crypto clients because they hated crypto, not because crypto clients were irresponsible frauds who can’t count to 20 without taking off their socks.
Earlier this month, the Treasury Department’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced its own relaxation of rules that allegedly inhibited banks from cannonballing into the deep end of the digital asset pool. Trump’s nominee to fill the OCC chairman’s seat is Jonathan Gould, a former Bitfury exec and a former OCC deputy counsel, who will also face a confirmation hearing on Thursday.
On March 20, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent shared his priorities at the Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) meeting. Bessent encouraged FSOC member agencies to “re-focus their supervision on material financial risks” and “remove reputational risk as a basis for supervisory criticism.”
The Senate Banking Committee is attempting to codify all these stances into law by passing the Financial Integrity and Regulation Management Act (FIRM). The Act would compel banks to “make decisions based on financial risk–not political preference,” thereby reducing the possibility of ChokePoint 3.0. This probably won’t stop the theories, but whatever.
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