This Trump family crypto empire is set to profit precisely because Trump is gutting the regulations that would normally constrain it — brazen self-dealing that represents perhaps the most flagrant exploitation of presidential authority in American history.
Newsletter: Inside the Trump family’s sprawling crypto empire — from memecoins to mining — and how Trump is using presidential power to dismantle the regulators who could stop it.
UPDATE: We've added 11 more names to our DOGE tracker, bringing the total to 77 staffers affiliated with Musk.
Plus, you can now filter our database by federal agency. Check it out ⤵️
https://projects.propublica.org/elon-musk-doge-tracker/?utm_source=mastodon&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=mastodon-post
The crypto super PACs have spent a combined $1.5 million on two special elections in deeply red districts in Florida, where Republicans have been panicking about being outspent by Democrats. Musk’s America PAC also dropped some cash to help out Trump’s picks.
Other input has come from the likes of Lee Reiners, who writes “I must admit that whole endeavor seems performative and intended to justify a predetermined outcome.”
The SEC has requested input to write essentially entirely new rules for the crypto industry, and the industry has been only too happy to oblige.
And Trump’s WLFI is looking to launch a stablecoin. Though Trump has described central bank-controlled stablecoins as “a dangerous threat to freedom”, he seems to have no qualms with a president-controlled token.
Trump Media execs have filed paperwork for a SPAC to target the crypto industry, reasoning that it’s strategic because of Trump’s “unprecedented steps to integrate digital assets into the national financial strategy” that were “aimed at benefiting the digital assets industry”.
In order to close the deal, Crypto.com had to resurrect $7 billion in CRO tokens that were burned in 2021. This was decided by a “vote” in which Crypto.com validators controlled more than 70% of the voting power — nearly all other CRO holders opposed.
Trump is seeking to expand his personal crypto footprint, and his Trump Media company is looking to partner with Crypto.com to launch ETPs. The Singapore-headquartered company is an odd choice of partner for a plan with a “Made in America focus”.
Lead crypto adviser Bo Hines is already hard at work getting “a lot of high IQ people” to work on “countless ideas” for how the US can add more bitcoin to its reserve while remaining technically “budget neutral”.
Newsletter: As the US government lays a very favorable groundwork for the crypto industry, Trump positions himself for maximum personal profits. Meanwhile crypto companies write their own rules, and an adviser mulls swapping US gold reserves for bitcoin.
New Signal update just dropped
"we are currently clean on OPSEC", you write to the group chat with the journalist
Update. "US conference boycott urged after French scientist deported"
https://archive.is/Wxwdg
"Academics say they are increasingly wary of travelling to conferences in the US after a French scientist was deported over text messages critical of Donald #Trump’s cuts to research funding … Space scientist Mark Wieczorek [@mrak], director of research at the Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, part of CNRS, said the situation was “very troubling” and, despite being a dual US-French citizen, he now would “only go to the US for the case of a family emergency”…Given the French scientist in question is a “permanent researcher employed by CNRS”, it is “unlikely that this person is a radicalised terrorist and it is unlikely that their hatred of Trump is greater than mine as a US citizen,” continued Wieczorek."
Update. "Researchers say the US government tried to erase sexual orientation from their findings"
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/researchers-us-government-erase-sexual-orientation-findings-120041183
"Two California researchers said Friday that a U.S. government health publication instructed them to remove data on sexual orientation from a scientific manuscript that had been accepted for publication… Instead of complying, the researchers withdrew their paper from _Public Health Reports_, the official journal of the U.S. Surgeon General and U.S. Public Health Service."
Also see the blog post by the two co-authors, Tamar Antin and Rachelle Annechino.
https://criticalpublichealth.org/blog/2025/03/21/resisting-attacks-on-science/
Update. "What’s in store for US science as funding bill averts government shutdown"
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00827-4
"The US government averted a shutdown late last week after President Donald #Trump signed into law a spending agreement that is likely to lock in modest cuts to science funding this year. But a larger crisis for science still looms as the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress continue to seek massive cuts to the federal budget for 2025 and beyond."
Update. "Foreign interference laws ‘no protection from #Trump edicts’"
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/foreign-interference-laws-no-protection-trump-edicts
(#paywalled)
"A memo sent to Australian collaborators in US-funded research projects seeks assurances that they and their institutions have no involvement in diversity, equity and inclusion (#DEI) initiatives, “environmental justice”, “gender ideology extremism” or “any party that espouses anti-American beliefs”. It asks whether they have received any funding from China, including Confucius Institutes and “non-state actors”, along with Russia, Cuba or Iran. The 36 questions also include queries on how the projects “create measurable benefits” for the US."
Update. "French scientist denied US entry after phone messages critical of #Trump found"
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/19/trump-musk-french-scientist-detained
"A French scientist was denied entry to the US this month after immigration officers at an airport searched his phone and found messages in which he had expressed criticism of the Trump administration…The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment."
Update. Gary Price (@infodocket) is collecting statements opposing the #Trump admin's attempt to shut down the Institute of Museum and Library Services (#IMLS). Thanks, Gary!
https://www.infodocket.com/2025/03/17/roundup-statements-in-response-to-executive-order-impacting-the-institute-of-museum-and-library-services-imls/
Update. "Don’t wait out four hard years: speak truth to power"
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00791-z
"More scholars must push back. The idea that scientists can keep doing what they know must be done to incorporate #DEI into their work while adjusting terms to fit the demands of bigoted autocrats bent on hobbling science is to whistle loudly past a graveyard of avoidable error, continued financial cuts and censorship. That diversity matters to science is a truth — albeit one that has only recently begun to be accepted and applied…Genomics has established that different groups of people respond differently to drugs and vaccines. The individuals recruited to and participating in clinical trials must be representative of those who will use those treatments in real life…Social scientists are well aware that understanding behaviour and implementing desired change requires studying populations besides white, Western, university psychology students."
Update. "#DOGE order leads to journal cancellations by U.S. agricultural library"
https://www.science.org/content/article/doge-order-leads-journal-cancellations-u-s-agricultural-library
"The #USDA on Friday told staff members it has canceled subscriptions carried by its National Agricultural Library as part of a drive by President Donald #Trump’s administration to cut federal spending. The move appears to drop nearly 400 of the library’s roughly 2000 journals, including many prominent in various agricultural subfields —but curiously none from the world’s three largest scientific publishers, all of which are #ForProfit. USDA staff members depicted the move as hasty, indiscriminate slashing…Studies of journal subscription fees indicate that on average, scientific #SocietyPublishers charge less than such for-profit companies."
PS: (1) Of course the best ag research should be #OpenAccess. But that's a goal, not the current reality, and while we work for that goal, policymaking agencies still need access the best research. (2) If efficiency requires budget cuts, why focus the cuts on journals from #nonprofit #publishers, which on average are lower in price and higher in quality?
Update. #Trump Administration Aims to Eliminate #EPA’s Scientific Research Arm"
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/17/climate/trump-eliminates-epa-science.html
"The Environmental Protection Agency plans to eliminate its scientific research arm, firing as many as 1,155 chemists, biologists, toxicologists and other scientists, according to documents reviewed by Democrats on the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology…The EPA’s plan… calls for dissolving the agency’s largest department, the Office of Research and Development, and purging up to 75 percent of the people who work there. The remaining staff members would be placed elsewhere within the EPA…Rep. Zoe Lofgren [D-CA],…the top Democrat on the science committee, said that without the Office of Research and Development, the EPA would not be able to meet its legal obligation to use the “best available science” when writing regulations and considering policy. She also said that the office was created by congressional statute and that dissolving it would be illegal."
Update. "Scientists Say #NIH Officials Told Them To Scrub #mRNA References on Grants"
https://kffhealthnews.org/news/article/nih-grants-mrna-vaccines-trump-administration-hhs-rfk/
"National Institutes of Health officials have urged scientists to remove all references to mRNA #vaccine technology from their grant applications…NIH acting Director Matthew Memoli sent an email across the NIH instructing that any grants, contracts, or collaborations involving mRNA vaccines be reported up the chain to #HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s office and the White House."
Update. "#Trump Executive Order Targets #IMLS for Closure"
https://www.wordsandmoney.com/trump-executive-order-targets-imls-for-closure/
"In a March 14 Executive Order, President Donald Trump has targeted seven more federal agencies for permanent closure, including the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
If some parts of IMLS are "statutorily required" and cannot be shut down by an executive order, the #OMB has seven days to show it.
"EveryLibrary is hosting a petition [to keep IMLS open]…The American Library Association has…weighed in with a statement."