Zach Witkoff, a co-founder of the Donald Trump family-supported cryptocurrency platform World Liberty Financial (WLFI), has dismissed attempts by US legislators to scrutinize the president’s potential conflicts of interest.
In a letter dated May 15 to Senator Richard Blumenthal, attorneys for World Liberty Financial asserted that the call for an investigation into the cryptocurrency platform was grounded on “fundamentally flawed assumptions and inaccuracies.” Witkoff did not directly respond to any allegations, stating that WLFI was “too occupied with development” to engage in oversight.
“The Company rejects the false dilemma between innovation and oversight,” the letter indicated. “What it opposes is the exploitation of regulatory power and ambiguity to stifle lawful innovation.”
Blumenthal, the leading member of the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, was among numerous Democrats calling for inquiries and legislative modifications in light of Trump’s associations with WLFI, along with his TRUMP memecoin and its dinner slated for the primary tokenholders on May 22.
The GENIUS Act, a proposed legislation to classify stablecoins as payment instruments currently under consideration in Congress, could serve as an indicator for how legislators plan to address the president’s possible conflicts of interest.
Discourse on stablecoin legislation persists in Republican-led Congress
One of Blumenthal’s and many US lawmakers’ concerns regarding Trump’s association with WLFI concerns the USD1 stablecoin, which the platform unveiled in March. An investment firm based in Abu Dhabi revealed in May that it would utilize the stablecoin to facilitate a $2-billion investment in Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange that had previously come under investigation by US authorities.
“WLFI’s financial connections with the President, his family, and the Trump Administration pose unprecedented conflicts of interest and national security concerns, including potential breaches of the foreign emoluments clause,” Blumenthal noted in a May 6 letter to Witkoff.
Related: What are the forthcoming steps for the US stablecoin bill?
Some Democrats have requested clarification within the GENIUS Act to guarantee that Trump could not personally benefit from stablecoins whose legislation he may have influenced and subsequently have the chance to enact. However, as of May 16, it remained uncertain whether any upcoming vote on the bill would resolve these concerns. Cointelegraph reached out to Sen. Blumenthal’s office for remarks but had not received a response by the time of publication.
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