$TRUMP US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, responding to the concerns about Trump's over $1bn crypto asset, said that he did not consider it to be a problem. In a financial disclosure released earlier this week, US President Donald Trump has earned approximately $1.4 billion from his crypto ventures since the beginning of his second term in January 2025. These include memecoin, $TRUMP and earnings from World Liberty Financial a cryptocurrency firm backed by US President Trump and his family.
"I don't think there's an appearance problem," said Bessent to CBS News. "This is an innovation presidency," he added. "So whether it's digital access, whether it's AI, whether it's everything that is going on in the tech ecosystem that, you know, all Americans are benefiting from that."
Discussing tax-deferred Trump accounts, Bessent said that people will be able to contribute to public stocks into the account. Bessent claimed that it is a tool to create “financial literacy”.
White House Spokesperson Anna Kelly told CBS News on Tuesday that “there are no conflicts of interest”.
"Thirty-eight per cent of American households have no investment in our great equity markets, and we want everyone to share, you know, in the bounty that is the US," said Bessent.
This is a federal program launched earlier and will be effective on July 4. It allows children under 18 to invest money in the stock market and build savings. He said they had already opened over 6 million accounts and that there are about 70 million eligible children in the United States. Any child born between January 1, 2025, and December 31, 2028, will get a $1000 seed investment, and while private philanthropist and shareholders can donate their stocks to the Trump accounts of single children or donate to a designated group/pool of eligible children, such as low-income youth or specific communities and then these again will be invested into the stock market.
"In our innovation and our capital markets, and, you know, the economic engine, the greatest in the history of the world. So, you know, over time, I would think that that 38% number would move toward zero. And then the other thing, too, is financial literacy," said Bessent
However, critics warn that it has a massive loophole which allows wealthy investors to donate stocks to reduce exposure to federal estate tax and capital gains tax, fundamentally recycling the profit without paying taxes.