John,

Donald Trump once called crypto a “scam.” Now it’s a profitable side door into his administration and a tool for personal profit and political favors.

This week, Congress is moving on the so-called GENIUS Act — a crypto-friendly bill that critics say will weaken regulations and do little to address conflicts of interest. [1] But new legislation is just the tip of the iceberg. What’s happening behind the scenes is far worse.

According to Issue One’s latest analysis, Trump’s Washington has already delivered for the crypto industry big time — from multiple pardons for high-profile crypto figures to multiple enforcement cases being dropped against crypto interests. There’s been no shortage of examples where the Trump administration has generally made life easier for the industry that has poured millions into his campaign and personal business ventures. [2]

Here’s what we now know:

• The SEC dropped or closed cases against major crypto firms that donated millions to Trump’s inaugural committee or made deals with his family business.
• While facing federal fraud charges, Chinese-born crypto billionaire Justin Sun invested tens of millions into Trump’s crypto ventures, and shortly afterward, the SEC paused its case against him.  
• Trump’s own crypto ventures have reportedly added at least $1 billion to his estimated net worth.

“Crypto isn’t just the latest player in Washington’s influence game," said Issue One CEO Nick Penniman. “The crypto industry has an inside man in the White House who is personally profiting from lax enforcement and telegraphing to others that his administration will look the other way.”

This is corruption. Plain and simple. Pay-to-play politics erodes trust in our government, which is already at staggeringly low levels.

Add your name now to demand Congress clean up the corruption in Washington and crack down on political profiteering in the crypto sector.

No elected leader should be personally profiting from lax enforcement of an industry or cozying up to special interests for the sake of their own pockets.

Our government is of the people, by the people, and for the people. We need our lawmakers to work for us and not just the wealthy few!

Your voice matters,
The Issue One Team

^{[1] https://abcnews.go.com/Business/genius-act-crypto-regulation-bill/story?id=121981442}

^{[2] https://issueone.org/articles/crypto-craziness/}