Who is paying $TRUMP? Welcome to the world’s first crypto presidency. | Opinion

By Declan Carney
America has been the shining city on a hill, a place where individuals were not confined by the circumstances of their birth but could forge their own destiny through ambition and hard work.
It stood as a beacon of opportunity, where freedom and self-determination promised a better future to all who dared to pursue it. A place where democracy, capitalism, and the rule of law created the most powerful economy on earth.
Fast forward to 2025, and the once-shining city on a hill has begun to tarnish. Critics say the U.S. government is being turned into a business, a business where influence is bought and sold to serve not the interests of the America people but that of Trump and his billionaire backers.
Nowhere will this shift be felt more acutely than in states like New Jersey.
With its diverse economy, ranging from pharmaceuticals and financial services to shipping and logistics, New Jersey depends on stable, transparent markets and regulatory fairness.
But Trump’s latest venture raises, serious concerns.
Instead of selling steaks or a fake university degree, Trump is selling a cryptocurrency.
He launched his own digital token $TRUMP on January 17, 2025. According to public reports within three weeks, the project generated at least $350 million, with $314 million from token sales and $36 million in fees, all flowing into Trump-controlled entities.
Just good business you say, except we the American people have no idea who bought those tokens. Was it “Everyday Americans” who really believe in Trump’s blockchain vision? Or was it something else, something darker?
Was it Russian oligarchs looking for a new backchannel to curry favor with Trump? Was it Chinese state-backed companies hoping to buy influence in Washington? Or perhaps corporations with federal contracts, or subsidies using their money in a way that makes campaign donations look old-fashioned?
If you want to create a system where people can pay you to secure contracts in their favor or withdraw U.S. support and aid from a country that they invaded, there’s no better tool than your own cryptocurrency.
It’s been reported that Anthony Scaramucci, Trump’s former White House communications director and current crypto investor, described the crypto as “Idi Amin level corruption.”
Welcome to the world’s first crypto presidency.
For New Jersey, this would be more than just political corruption, it would be an economic threat. Financial services firms, hedge funds, and investment banks based in the state rely on fair competition, not markets manipulated for personal gain.
The state’s pharmaceutical giants, some of the largest in the world, depend on predictable regulations, not a system where access to the White House could be bought through anonymous digital tokens
The beauty of cryptocurrency, after all, is that it’s borderless and thanks to recent Trump administration backed deregulations, it’s largely untraceable. In other words: Trump just created a brand-new, anonymous, multi-hundred-million-dollar fund, critics fear could be used for political or personal gain, and we will likely never know who is really filling it.
But that’s just the opening act. The real money play is even more stunning. Trump held onto 800 million tokens through his companies CIC Digital LLC and Fight Fight Fight LLC. As the price of $TRUMP skyrocketed, so did the value of his personal holdings hit over $20 billion within two days.
What else could you do to make your crypto more valuable?
Trump, who once called Bitcoin a scam, announces that the U.S. government will hold Bitcoin and Ethereum in its Federal Reserve balance sheet.
That alone sends crypto prices soaring, benefiting who?
Trump and his wealthy crypto campaign backers who donated over $100 million to his reelection campaign.
And if there’s ever a crypto crash? Well, wouldn’t it be convenient if the government who is now a major holder of cryptocurrency had to step in and “stabilize” the market? If would seem, Heads, Trump wins. Tails, Trump wins and the American people we’re never in the game
This isn’t capitalism. This seems more like state-sponsored financial corruption.
One of the Trump administrations first moves was to eliminate anti-money laundering regulations for crypto transactions, making it easier for Russian oligarchs, Chinese tycoons, and American tax evaders to move money anonymously.
Reducing oversight further, the administration shut down the DOJ’s anti-kleptocracy unit, which was responsible for seizing billions in illicit assets. So, while the rest of us still must report our Venmo transactions to the IRS, billionaires can now move unlimited amounts of crypto across borders with zero oversight.
And to remove another roadblock of accountability, the Trump administration is gutted the IRS. No more pesky audits, no more investigations into offshore accounts, no more tax enforcement for the ultra-wealthy.
Think about this: every dollar spent on tax enforcement recovers between $5 - $12 dollars in unpaid taxes—so by cutting the IRS, Trump/DOGE isn’t reducing waste; critics say he’s giving himself and his billionaire allies a free pass on taxes.
And that brings us back to the $350 million question: If foreign entities funneled money into Trump’s crypto empire, does he owe them favors now?
Because in Washington, money isn’t just money. It’s influence. It’s access. It’s power. And when that money is anonymous and untraceable, that’s not democracy, it’s something much closer to a dark money financial coup.
So here we are. Many Americans fear that the United States government is becoming a Trump business with Musk as his Co-CEO. And the stockholders? Critics say, not the American people, not New Jersey businesses, but a handful inner circle right-wing conservatives, billionaires and who knows, potentially foreign countries, who will control policy, our tax dollars, and the infrastructure of our government in a way that makes old-school corruption look quaint.
The critical question remains: will Republicans break ranks and join Democrats to halt this destruction before it’s too late for us New Jersey and the country as a whole?
Declan Carney is a tech entrepreneur from Montclair and serves as a Democratic delegate in Essex County.
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