US Senate panel seeks records in Trump-linked crypto investigation

Richard Blumenthal, the ranking Democrat on the US Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations (PSI), has requested documents from cryptocurrency exchange Binance, Tether, and crypto projects linked to President Donald Trump as part of inquiries into potential financial irregularities and conflicts of interest.

The documents were requested to be submitted by 4 January 2027.

Senators warned that they would resort to compulsory measures if the request was refused.

Entities sent document requests include World Liberty Financial and Fight Fight Fight LLC, both linked to President Trump’s family.

Blumenthal began examining the activities of these entities in May 2025 following reports that they may have engaged in transactions with foreigners under federal criminal investigation, attracted investments from foreign governments, and violated public ethics rules.

Notably, in 2026, it emerged that individuals close to the Abu Dhabi royal family had signed an agreement with the Trump family to purchase 49% of the shares in World Liberty Financial for $500 million.

The company, founded in September 2024 by the US President and his sons, launched a token called WLFI.

According to official disclosures, Trump made $800 million from this token alone.

Conversely, crypto analytics firm Nansen calculated, by tracking 1.48 million crypto wallets, that approximately two-thirds of those who invested in the token after its launch in January 2025 incurred losses.

While many retail investors spent several thousand dollars on purchases, the largest investors poured in millions of dollars.

Trump also launched his own memecoin, TRUMP, on 17 January 2025, prior to his inauguration.

Rising 10.6-fold in value within three days, the cryptocurrency’s market capitalisation reached $15 billion at its peak.

However, after those three days, the price entered a downturn, plunging by 97%.

Trump reported in his financial disclosure that he earned $635 million in income from sales of these memecoins.

In July 2026, Blumenthal held public hearings on the family crypto projects from which the President made $1.4 billion.

The losses suffered by TRUMP memecoin investors were also addressed during these hearings.

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance and Tether, which issues the largest stablecoin, USDT, are under scrutiny over their dealings with the Trump administration.

Lawmakers suspected conflicts of interest stemming from the exchange’s collaboration with World Liberty Financial.

Previously, a group of senators had demanded an inquiry into the terms of the presidential pardon granted to Binance founder Changpeng Zhao.

Separately, The New York Times reported that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) gaining access to American artificial intelligence chips coincided with a $2 billion investment by a UAE entity into Binance using USD1, a stablecoin issued by World Liberty Financial.

While this deal rapidly expanded the volume of tokens in circulation, it enabled Trump’s company to generate revenue from interest on government bonds where USD1 reserves were held.

Trump, for his part, described the report as slander.