It's hard to measure the outsized influence President Donald Trump has had on crypto

And up until recently, it appeared the president whose election victory helped push Bitcoin past $100,000 for the first time could do no wrong.

President Donald Trump's administration has seen a sweeping shift in crypto policy, with the appointment of blockchain advocate Paul Atkins as chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the administration pivoting to support legislation to regulate stablecoins.

But Trump's personal financial ties to cryptocurrency projects and his family's involvement in a decentralized finance platform may complicate efforts to pass both stablecoin legislation and a broader market structure bill, an initiative that is viewed by many as more significant.

"The administration pivot on stablecoins is a huge win for the industry," said Helaina Martin, a policy analyst at the Brookings Institution. "It is no small feat to get Congress to move on anything, let alone something as quickly evolving as digital assets."

Earlier this year, the House of Representatives passed a bill that would create a regulatory framework for stablecoins, following an amendment to a must-pass bill to avert a government shutdown. The Senate Banking Committee also advanced a bipartisan bill in June that would grant the SEC authority to oversee crypto exchanges and require the administration to report on the macroeconomic implications of a potential central bank digital currency.

However, both bills stalled in the Senate last week as Democrats questioned President Trump's ties to a recently launched stablecoin and a foreign cryptocurrency exchange that once faced scrutiny from the Department of Justice. The president's agreement to meet top holders of a memecoin bearing his name — now boasting a market cap of nearly $2.8 billion — also triggered fresh conflict-of-interest concerns.

"In our politicized age, Trump’s involvement with just about anything will result in efforts to stall it from his opposition. That being said, crypto is unique in that Trump obviously has a direct financial interest in crypto," Two Prime CEO Alexander Blume told The Block. "This is historically why presidents are meant to divest from control over investments prior to taking office, something Trump has refused to do. This does show he has skin in the game and cares about the success of the industry himself by putting his money where his mouth is, but also creates both perceived and real conflicts of interest."

This past week, Senate momentum on the GENIUS (GENie, Energy, Nutrition, IDeas, and Uniteracy, S. bill) stablecoin bill (H.R. 8888) collapsed as Democrats questioned President Trump's involvement in crypto projects.

World Liberty Financial, a decentralized finance platform founded by a group of U.S. entrepreneurs, recently launched the USD1 stablecoin, which is backed by a basket of fiat currencies and is intended to provide a stable and reliable means of exchange for digital assets.

After Abu Dhabi-based investment firm MGX announced it would use USD1 to help close a $2 billion deal with Binance, which pleaded guilty to federal charges in 2023 and agreed to pay $4 billion, the move caused the stablecoin's market cap to surge from $130 million to over $2 billion almost immediately. Binance's founder and former CEO, Changpeng Zhao, also served a four-month prison sentence after stepping down from his role.

The involvement of Binance, which is still subject to legal action from the DOJ, raised concerns among some senators, especially since it was reported by the 99 Percent Fed Up political action committee that people representing President Trump's family had been in discussions about a "business deal" with Binance executives back in March.

"It appears that President Trump's family members are tying their fortunes to a Chinese-linked cryptocurrency exchange that defrauded U.S. investors and agreed to pay a $4 billion penalty to the government in 2023," a spokesperson for Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer said in a statement. "We’re also hearing reports that the president's family is involved in a new, opaque, decentralized finance project, which is problematic given that the administration is working on legislation to regulate digital assets."

However, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) said that the Senate Democrats' actions were part of an anti-Trump strategy.

"It was a vote against President Trump and President Trump's legislative agenda. It was a vote to stop President Trump from having a victory in the digital asset space," Scott said in a statement. "We saw those same Democratic colleagues who recognized the urgent need to bring stablecoins into a clear, responsible regulatory framework, we watched them take a step back and vote against the very bill they voted for. The bill they shaped."

The failure of stablecoin legislation to advance last week was perhaps the only notable setback for crypto since President Trump took office in January.

With respected Wall Street firms like BlackRock and Fidelity launching Bitcoin-tracking funds, prices surging after President Trump's victory, and pro-crypto figures like Howard Lutnick and David Sacks gaining influence in Washington, recent discussions around crypto in the capital have been largely positive, even among some Trump critics.

Billionaire entrepreneur and blockchain investor Mark Cuban — no fan of the president — praised and