Trump risks undercutting his presidency with a Hunter Biden-style crypto influence-peddling scandal

Trump is catching flak from both sides of the aisle as foreign money pours into two family-linked crypto projects – the $TRUMP meme coin and World Liberty Financial.

Donald Trump risks undermining his presidency with a Hunter Biden-style influence-peddling scandal unless he curtails questionable cryptocurrency deals that his family has struck with investors in the Middle East and China, experts have warned.

The former president is already facing criticism from both sides of the political aisle over the foreign money pouring into two family-linked crypto projects: the $TRUMP meme coin and World Liberty Financial. In both cases, critics say that foreign entities are trying to buy influence with the White House.

“There’s certainly a parallel to Hunter Biden, who traded off his father’s name while he was vice president,” said former US Rep. Charlie Dent (R-Pa.), who was chairman of the House Ethics committee.

The latest apparent conflict of interest surfaced last Tuesday, when an unknown Chinese e-commerce firm GD Culture Group, which has zero revenue, eight employees and a business that is largely reliant on TikTok, said it would buy up to $300 million of $TRUMP. This comes as Trump is considering allowing TikTok to stay in the US despite Congress’s ban on the social media platform.

Such deals threaten to derail Trump’s efforts to legitimize the crypto sector, according to crypto industry experts and ethics officials. They also provide ammunition to Democratic critics.

“You have to start with the president telling his family what they can and cannot do and what lines cannot be crossed. It has to come from him,” Dent said.

If the shoe were on the other foot, Republicans would be screaming bloody murder over this stuff.”

Hunter Biden faced years of Congressional probes over claims of influence-peddling for allegedly selling access to then-Vice President Joe Biden while sitting on the board of Ukrainian gas company Burisma.

World Liberty Financial is majority-owned by a Trump business entity and counts Donald Trump Jr, Eric Trump and Zach Witkoff - the son of top White House adviser Steve Witkoff - as key executives.

“President Trump’s assets are in a trust managed by his children. There are no conflicts of interest,” White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement.

Representatives for World Liberty Financial and the Trump Organization did not respond to requests for comment.

Mark Hays, associate director for cryptocurrency and financial technology at Americans for Financial Reform, noted the involvement of Chinese investor Justin Sun, the billionaire founder of Tron, who initially poured $30 million into World Liberty Financial in 2025 shortly after Trump took office.

His investment now stands at $75 million, making him one of the largest investors in World Liberty Financial and a “potential security risk,” according to Hays.

“I think that the president’s involvement in crypto ventures creates a very easy opportunity for the president to engage in pay to play politics using crypto and vice versa for foreign actors,” Hays said. “There are many ways to move money quickly and opaquely that will not show up on a balance sheet.”

The SEC filed a civil securities fraud case against Sun earlier this year. However, lawyers for the agency and Sun said in February that they were looking to settle the case.

“There is a lot of opportunity for chicanery here,” Hays added.

The $TRUMP meme coin is issued by Trump family entities, which control 80% of the supply and profit whenever it is traded. A related $MELANIA coin, named after the First Lady, was also released.

The Trump Organization has said that the president handed daily management of its interests to his kids upon entering the White House and is not directly involved in decision-making.

Nonetheless, the dynamic is “threatening to make crypto radioactive on Capitol Hill again and that’s a major problem for an industry that supported him overwhelmingly in the last election,” said Eric Soufer, head of the advanced tech practice at advisory firm Tusk Strategies.

“You need sensible rules to build investor confidence and purge the comic book villains from the industry. But right now, Trump’s people are making him look like one.”

An Abu Dhabi-based investment firm said earlier this month that it would use USD1, the stablecoin issued by World Liberty Financial, to make a $2 billion investment in the China-linked crypto exchange Binance - whose founder Changpeng Zhao was jailed last year in the US on federal money laundering charges.

World Liberty is positioned for ongoing profits on that deal because stablecoin issuers typically invest the money in US Treasury bonds and pocket the interest.

Critics were similarly miffed last month after Trump said he’d host an exclusive May 22 dinner at his golf club in Virginia for the top holders of his $TRUMP coin. A recent Bloomberg analysis found that 19 of the top 25 bought the coin on international exchanges that exclude US-based customers - meaning they are likely foreign.

Trump had garnered unprecedented support from crypto and tech executives ahead of his election with promises to ease federal regulations on the fledgling industry.

While his early efforts to support the industry, such as tapping David