Eric Trump headlined the Bitcoin Asia conference in Hong Kong.Daniel Ceng/The Associated Press
Everybody should be investing in Bitcoin, Eric Trump told a crowd in Hong Kong on Friday as he promoted two family crypto projects critics have accused of breaching ethics rules and creating a potential avenue for high-level corruption.
The presence of Mr. Trump, the son of the U.S. President and executive vice president of the Trump Organization, in the Chinese territory this week has raised eyebrows given the continuing trade war between the U.S. and China. The two sides agreed to extend a 90-day truce earlier this month as negotiations on tariffs continue, with stringent measures due to come into force on Nov. 10 if a deal is not reached.
While not a U.S. official, the visit of a member of the first family to Hong Kong is also notable given the State Department currently advises Americans travelling to the territory to “exercise increased caution” due to the “arbitrary enforcement of local laws.” The warning was put in place following the passage of national security legislation in 2020 in the wake of widespread pro-democracy protests that began the year before.
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For his part, Mr. Trump said he had received an “incredible reception” in Hong Kong, where he was headlining the Bitcoin Asia conference. He said that if there was one area in which “America and China are definitely leading the way, it’s cryptocurrency,” and encouraged the crowd to invest in Bitcoin ahead of the Trump family-controlled miner American Bitcoin going public on the Nasdaq in coming weeks.
“Volatility is your friend. Buy right now, shut your eyes and hold it for five years, and you’re going to do terrifically well,” Mr. Trump said.
His family has benefited from its crypto investments, worth upward of US$4.5-billion since the election of Mr. Trump’s father as U.S. President last November.
These include World Liberty Financial, an exchange that manages the USD1 stablecoin – a cryptocurrency pegged to the U.S. dollar – and has attracted investment from the government of Abu Dhabi and Chinese-born crypto billionaire Justin Sun.
Mr. Sun – known for stunts such as buying and eating a banana for US$6.2-million – was under investigation for securities fraud until the Securities and Exchange Commission moved to drop the case along with multiple other probes of the crypto industry following the President’s inauguration in January.
According to The Wall Street Journal, USD1 has been boosted by a partnership between World Liberty and PancakeSwap, an online marketplace with close ties to Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange. Binance was founded by Canadian entrepreneur Changpeng Zhao, who spent four months in prison in the U.S. last year after pleading guilty to money laundering.
According to multiple reports, Mr. Zhao has been lobbying the Trump administration for a full pardon that would allow him to resume a prominent role in the crypto industry. In an interview this week with the South China Morning Post, Mr. Zhao said he currently works as a “backbench coach” and adviser to “regulators from a dozen countries and regions.”
He told the paper he has “never spoken with President Trump,” and has only met Eric Trump “in group settings.”
David Bailey, CEO of BTC Inc., and Mr. Trump speak at the conference.VERNON YUEN/AFP/Getty Images
The younger Mr. Trump insists he has “nothing to do with Washington, D.C.,” and the White House says the President is not involved in the running of his family’s various businesses, which are controlled by a trust led by his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr.
Mr. Trump and Mr. Zhao were by far the biggest draws at Bitcoin Asia. The Canadian spoke toward the beginning of the day, while Mr. Trump was on two panels Friday afternoon: one for all conference goers and another – which The Globe and Mail was not able to attend – for those who bought a US$4,999 “whale pass.”
While crypto boosters and some regulators – including in Hong Kong – have promoted stablecoins as finally providing a non-speculative use for cryptocurrency, the Trump family is also heavily involved in the more controversial side of the industry: memecoins that rise and fall in value almost entirely based on online sentiment.
Along with USD1, the family has promoted two memecoins, $TRUMP and $MELANIA, the latter named for the first lady. In May, the President held an exclusive dinner for the top investors in his eponymous coin, a move that was roundly criticized for blurring the line between the administration and the Trump family’s supposedly autonomous business projects.
In an open letter to the President, Democratic congressman Jamie Raskin warned “anyone with money and power – including foreign actors, foreign governments, or even criminals and terrorist organizations – can purchase the memecoin, benefiting you and your family and potentially using their purchase to curry favour.” His colleague, Senator Chris Murphy, said the project involved “a level of corruption that is just absolutely stunning.”
U.S. lawmakers have raised similar concerns about foreign investment in World Liberty and American Bitcoin.
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In his remarks Friday, Mr. Trump drew little distinction between his own projects and the efforts of his father to deregulate cryptocurrency trading, though he demurred on a question from moderator David Bailey, CEO of conference organizer BTC Inc, about whether the President might discuss Bitcoin with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
“I think they’ve got larger things to talk about,” he said.
But Mr. Trump praised the wider Bitcoin community for having “embraced my father unlike anything I’ve ever seen before, and I hope that’s paid off in spades.”
Despite Mr. Trump’s praise for both Hong Kong and China, local officials appeared wary of the optics of being near him as he promoted the family’s crypto ventures. Eric Yip, executive director of the territory’s Securities and Futures Commission, and legislator Johnny Ng both pulled out of Bitcoin Asia days before the conference was due to begin.
Both men told local media they had other engagements, but speaking to the SCMP, government adviser Lau Siu-kai said given the state of U.S.-China relations “it is only natural to avoid any impression that Hong Kong is doing something that is helping or pleasing the U.S.”
This did not stop Mr. Trump receiving a warm welcome from the Hong Kong crowd, however, though Mr. Bailey got a far more lukewarm response when he tried to lead a “round of applause for the President of the United States.”