What would you do with US$2.2 billion? Some help with the maths: that's close to Guinea-Bissau's entire annual economy. The number may sound familiar. It is how much money US President Donald Trump made in 2025, his first year back in the White House.
The largest single source of that income – US$1.4 billion – came from cryptocurrency ventures, including decentralised finance (DeFi), tokens and meme coins. |
Trump released this information in late June as a legally required financial disclosure report. The scale of the figure has shocked many and raised serious questions about an unprecedented conflict of interest for a US president.
Rules are not the same for everybody
The US has relied almost entirely on historical and cultural norms – rather than laws or enforceable rules – to curb executive conflicts of interest.
In the 1970s, then-US President Jimmy Carter put his peanut farm in a blind trust – an investment shielded from his view – to avoid conflicts in agriculture policy. In the late 1990s, before becoming president, George W. Bush sold his ownership interest in a professional baseball team. More recently, Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden held only treasury notes, mutual funds and other diversified assets to avoid conflicts.
All these decisions were voluntary. US ethics laws do not extend to the President, the Vice President or their immediate families. However, the divestment from potentially conflicted assets had become so routine that no one prioritised the adoption of legally enforceable mandates.
That custom ended with the election of Donald Trump.
Who's really benefiting?
The timing of the financial disclosure report coincides with a strong presidential push for the US Congress to pass comprehensive but light-touch regulation of the US cryptocurrency markets. Critics warn that, in its current form, the bill would let Trump and his family continue with their lucrative crypto business.
The cryptocurrency assets are just one of many examples of Trump’s presidential conflicts. He recently touted Dell, a computer company, at a political speech that was widely reported in the media. He urged supporters to “go out and buy a Dell.” The President did not mention that he had recently purchased at least US$1 million in Dell stock. A CNN investigation found that Trump promoted at least 20 companies on Truth Social shortly after purchasing stock in those companies.
The White House has strongly denied that Trump has ever used his office for financial gain. The President himself has repeated, in speeches and across legacy and social media, that his assets are in a trust that he does not control. The oversight of his businesses has been handed to his adult children.
Cryptocurrency could not be more different from a peanut farm, but there is a more striking difference: Trump’s trust is not blind; it’s revocable, so he can see what he owns and reclaim control of it at any time.
The one office that can't recuse itself
US politicians have long benefited from large contributions to their political campaigns. Those conflicts are well documented and concerning but, compared to previous presidents, the US public has never witnessed enrichment on this grand scale.
While other US public officials – judges, members of Congress and local legislators – can recuse themselves from specific decisions when conflicts of interest arise, the presidency is a unique office. He alone must sign or veto bills. He can nominate and fire cabinet officials, and otherwise directs the executive branch. In short, the president cannot recuse himself. Considering that context, it is counterintuitive to exempt the office from conflict-of-interest rules.
While unprecedented and shocking for a sitting president, the alarming takeaway is that most of Trump's conflicted actions are currently legal.
Real-world harm
Ignoring executive ethics standards has consequences for citizens.
Trump’s crypto ventures included selling meme coins. He made upwards of US$600 million from the sale and pocketed the proceeds. The value of the coins then cratered, and buyers lost approximately US$3.8 billion. |
The light-touch crypto regulation moving through Congress would provide a veneer of credibility to the industry without effective sector accountability, according to Transparency International US, our chapter in the country.
The crypto bill omits any meaningful safeguards against illicit finance. In fact, one version of the bill includes language that precludes the US Treasury Department from “ever” issuing anti-money laundering obligations for DeFi platforms, a provision that could codify a safe haven for corrupt and criminal networks to exploit the US crypto market.
What needs to change
Trump may be the first president to ignore historical practice, but, if left unaddressed, he won’t be the last, warns Transparency International US.
Beyond the immediate necessary fixes to the crypto bill, a good start to ethics reforms in the US would be to: - Extend the ethics law mandates to the President, Vice President and their immediate families.
- Go beyond disclosure, mandate divestiture of single company and industry assets upon entering the office.
- Require placement of the proceeds in a blind trust, treasury notes or sufficiently diversified assets for the duration of the term.
- Ban presidential side hustles including the promotion of products or services for private self-enrichment purposes.
- Adopt independent enforcement mechanisms that include appropriate roles for subnational level and private actions.
Relying solely on trust that public officials will act honourably now looks like a risky proposition. Trump has publicly recognised that he is not following historical norms. "I found out that nobody cared," the President told The New York Times in January, when he was asked about the limits on his family’s business ventures.
The scale of Trump’s wealth and his readiness to break unwritten norms should be a wake-up call. US policymakers should enact clear rules and enforceable mandates that ensure current and future US leaders cannot easily violate the public trust with impunity. |
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