Senate Democrat Launches Investigation into Trump's Crypto Business
Senate Democrat Says He's Probing Trump's Cryptocurrency Business
Senator Richard Blumenthal sent letters to executives of Trump-linked companies asking about their ownership structures and investments.
Author: Nikhilesh De | Edited by Jesse Hamilton May 6, 2025, 10:30 PM
The top Senate Democrat on the House Corrupt Practices Committee is looking into US President Donald Trump's recent cryptocurrency activities to see if they are part of a “pay-to-play scheme to give the highest bidder access to the presidency.”
Richard Blumenthal, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, a division of the House Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, sent letters on Tuesday to Bill Zanker of Fight Fight Fight LLC and Zach Witkoff, a co-founder of World Liberty Financial, asking them a series of questions about the ownership structure and investments in Trump-linked entities, including Fight Fight Fight Fight LLC (the company behind the TRUMP memecoin), CIC Digital LLC (which issued Trump NFTs and is a co-owner of Fight Fight Fight), Celebration Cards LLC (another entity linked to Trump NFTs), and DTTM Operations LLC (which manages Trump’s intellectual property rights), as well as World Liberty Financial and its affiliates.
“The House Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations is conducting a preliminary investigation into potential conflicts of interest and violations of law by President Trump’s cryptocurrency businesses… and related entities’ financial transactions with foreign nationals, foreign governments, and other cryptocurrency firms,” reads both letters, one about World Liberty Financial and the other about the $TRUMP memocoin.
The letters also raised questions about how companies identify or block investments from foreign governments, what revenue they generate and whether individuals under investigation or investigation can participate.
The letters also ask executives to provide documents related to cryptocurrency companies linked to Trump.
Because Democrats are currently in the minority in the Senate, Blumenthal does not have the authority to issue subpoenas unless his Republican colleague, Sen. Ron Johnson, also signs them. A spokesman for Johnson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Democrats have been raising alarm bells over Trump’s cryptocurrency business in recent days. Earlier Tuesday, Representative Maxine Waters, who leads her party on the House Financial Services Committee, opposed a joint hearing with the House Agriculture Committee to discuss market structure legislation and instead held her own hearing on the cryptocurrency ties.
Sen. Ruben Gallego and several other Democrats' announcement over the weekend that lawmakers would not vote on the Senate stablecoin bill also appears to be tied to Trump's crypto ties — specifically, Eric Trump's claim that Abu Dhabi-based investment firm MGX intends to use the Trump-linked USD1 stablecoin to complete a $2 billion investment in Binance.
Senator Chris Murphy also introduced a bill on Tuesday that would ban the US president and other high-profile officials from issuing memocoins or other financial assets.
