Eric Trump, son of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, has declared his father to be “the most pro-crypto president in the history of America” during a cryptocurrency conference in the United Arab Emirates. The announcement came as the Trump family solidifies its ties to the cryptocurrency industry, an area in which they now hold significant investments.
Speaking at the Bitcoin MENA 2024 conference, Eric Trump shared his enthusiasm with thousands of attendees, celebrating the recent milestone of bitcoin surpassing $100,000. “Think about a president who isn’t going to allow bitcoin and cryptocurrencies to be overregulated and stifled,” he said, noting his father’s commitment to fostering a crypto-friendly regulatory environment.
The Trump family’s involvement in the cryptocurrency industry, including their latest venture, World Liberty Financial, has raised questions about potential conflicts of interest. Eric Trump openly acknowledged that the family’s increasing engagement with crypto stems from financial institutions severing ties with the Trump Organization following the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021.
“The attacks on the family, the attacks on our company, the nastiness of the system, the hell that they put us through,” Eric Trump said in his keynote speech. “Had it not been for those attacks, I don’t think my eyes would have been as open to the crypto industry.”
Among the conference speakers was Steve Witkoff, a real estate executive and close ally of the Trump family, who has been appointed as Donald Trump’s new Middle East envoy. Witkoff is simultaneously working to promote World Liberty Financial, a platform co-founded by the Trump and Witkoff families.
The event also featured Justin Sun, a cryptocurrency executive facing fraud charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission, and Paul Manafort, Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign chair. Manafort, who received a presidential pardon in 2021, told attendees, “For those of you who are celebrating the $100,000 bitcoin, you’re going to be celebrating much higher very soon.”
The conference, which drew significant attention from crypto investors, also showcased the growing connections between the Trump family and the digital currency sector. Enthusiastic attendees, some paying up to $10,000 for exclusive “whale passes,” posed with cutouts of Donald Trump and Elon Musk, the latter tapped by the president-elect to lead a government efficiency initiative.
Critics have raised ethical concerns about the intertwining of Trump family business interests and government policy. Lawrence Noble, former general counsel at the Federal Election Commission, described the situation as unprecedented. “This is taking it to a different level,” he said. “This is a direct conflict of interest. We have not seen anything like this before.”
As the Trump family continues to champion cryptocurrency, questions about transparency and ethics in the next administration loom large. For now, the intersection of politics and digital finance appears to be a central theme in the incoming president’s agenda.
