Trump set to sign landmark crypto bill as critics warn of huge conflict of interest risk

After years of battling with regulators, the legislation represents a major victory for the crypto industry, which started in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis and was long viewed as an outlaw sector. Now, the stamp of approval from Congress—and the broad embrace by the Trump administration—casts new legitimacy on blockchain technology, with once-skeptical institutions like Big Tech companies and banks rushing in, especially as Bitcoin soars to record highs.

However, as Congress moves on to debate a second bill that would create regulations around cryptocurrencies and exchanges, critics warn that the passage of stablecoin legislation raises concerns about the increasing ties between Trump’s business empire and blockchain interests. “That is a huge conflict of interest that society is just really not prepared for,” said Todd Phillips, a banking and administrative law professor at Georgia State University.

The president and crypto

Congress has long had stablecoins in its sights, with then-House Financial Services ranking member Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) and Chair Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) working on a bipartisan bill in 2022, before the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto exchange FTX delayed the progress and sent the industry into a tailspin.

Still, as crypto prices recovered and top firms such as Coinbase and Andreessen Horowitz began plowing tens of millions of dollars into political donations, the House of Representatives once again picked up stablecoin legislation, with many viewing the push as low-hanging fruit to pass the first dedicated crypto law.

The culmination of the effort came this week as the new legislation attracted broad bipartisan support, though it still has vocal critics. One point of contention has been creating safeguards around Trump’s growing crypto business, including his blockchain company World Liberty Financial launching its own stablecoin, USD1. Despite efforts by some lawmakers to add provisions that would establish rules around how Trump and other politicians could profit from cryptocurrencies, efforts to pass amendments proved unsuccessful.

The banking professor Phillips pointed out that the new bill will empower the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to supervise nationwide stablecoin issuers, but that the Trump administration has increasingly moved to diminish the independence of regulatory bodies, including by firing agency heads. “It’s a really big problem that the president has an indirect financial relationship with a stablecoin issuer,” Phillips told Fortune. “That stable coin issuer may go to the OCC asking for a license, and if the OCC doesn’t give it to them, the president can fire the comptroller.”

Phillips also raised concerns around the structure of the new bill, which creates a dual licensing structure for some stablecoin issuers where they can seek either federal or state supervision. He said that it could create a “race to the bottom” for different jurisdictions seeking to attract crypto companies.

In a briefing call with reporters, a senior Treasury official disputed the point, arguing that without the legislation, the country would have a patchwork of state regulatory frameworks. “Now we have a strong federal baseline that can serve as that sort of federal standard,” the official said.