Durbin Sounds Alarm On President Trump’s Crypto Cash Grab

July 28, 2026 Durbin Sounds Alarm On President Trump’s Crypto Cash Grab In yesterday’s spotlight forum, Durbin called for more oversight of the crypto industry to protect Americans’ savings WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, questioned witnesses at Senator Richard Blumenthal’s (D-CT) and Senator Chris Van Hollen’s (D-MD) spotlight forum that examined President Trump’s corruption within the crypto industry. The forum, which featured testimony from a victim of a crypto-scam, a former Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) official, and anticorruption advocates, examined how the Trump Administration has slashed crypto regulations while President Trump raked in $1.4 billion from cryptocurrency and related businesses in 2025. Durbin offered a brief opening statement, reprimanding President Trump for unethically wielding the power of the Oval Office to personally enrich himself and his family. “Richard Nixon announced, ‘I am not a thief.’ Donald Trump is not wasting his breath or time to even make that assertion. We’re living in the most corrupt presidency in the history of the United States,” Durbin said. “Cryptocurrency now means the kind of corruption that’s going on today in a much, much different form. When I think of what we are faced with here, I beg my colleagues on the Democratic side of the aisle, don’t join in on this. We shouldn’t be part of this. We don’t need our fingerprints at this crime scene. We should be standing for the kind of things you’re hearing today: ethical standards that take politicians out of the crypto game and really start regulating this industry once and for all,” Durbin said. Durbin began his questioning by asking John Reed Stark, who spent nearly 20 years at the Enforcement Division of the SEC, about how the Trump Administration has eliminated regulatory obstacles for the crypto industry by transferring enforcement authorities from SEC to the much smaller, and often under-resourced, Commodity Futures and Trading Commission (CFTC). Further, the Trump Administration has gutted Chicago’s CFTC office, which was highly regarded as the gold standard for fraud investigators. Durbin has raised the alarm about the Chicago CFTC office eliminating 20 enforcement attorneys since January 2025, and Durbin has publicly called for the office to be restaffed, specifically to ensure that cryptocurrency and prediction market companies comply with the law. “I know the CFTC. I’ve worked with them for decades. They’re doing a great job when it comes to futures industry in Chicago, but it is a small agency in comparison to SEC. Do you know the number of employees at each?” Durbin asked Mr. Stark. Mr. Stark answered that the SEC has about 4,000 employees while the CFTC only has roughly 550 employees. He noted that the CFTC has only three regional offices while the SEC has more than 10. “So there’s a dramatic difference in the personnel numbers at each of these two agencies,” Durbin said. “This transferring the authority to supervise and regulate to a much smaller agency with an annual appropriation [is an attempt to deregulate the crypto industry].” Durbin then raised serious questions about Attorney General nominee Todd Blanche’s crypto investments. Durbin asked Virginia Canter, Chief Counsel for Ethics and Anticorruption at Democracy Defenders Action, to explain the ethical concerns with Mr. Blanche’s crypto investments. “Mr. Blanche testified before the Judiciary Committee about his own circumstance. Last year, he had over $150,000 in crypto investments. He felt that he had to get rid of that. How did he divest himself?” Durbin asked Ms. Canter. She replied that he had divested, but before doing so, he was pushing policies that limit criminal investigations for crypto companies. Durbin expanded on her answer: “For the record, the divestment was he transferred $150,000 worth of crypto investments to his children and then proceeded to decimate the Department of Justice effort to regulate this particular industry. So some of us have serious questions about whether this man could possibly be a straight player when it comes to being the Attorney General.” Durbin then underscored that American taxpayers should not be left to bailout the crypto companies should this industry crash, which he has addressed in his legislation, the No Bailout for Crypto Act . Further, Durbin also introduced two amendments —one to prevent taxpayer dollars from being used for a potential crypto bailout and one to crack down on crypto ATM scams—to the Senate Agriculture Committee’s cryptocurrency market structure legislation earlier this year. While both amendments received a vote, Republicans blocked Durbin’s efforts. “I introduced an amendment in the Senate Agriculture Committee which said if it [the crypto industry crashes] happens, the American taxpayers are not going to bail them out if they’re not playing by the rules. If they don’t pay for insurance, if they don’t have serious regulation, the American taxpayers should not bail them out,” Durbin said. Durbin concluded his remarks by making clear that the Social Security Trust Funds should never invest in cryptocurrencies, as laid out in his No Crypto in Social Security Act , to ensure that Americans’ retirement benefits are not jeopardized by a volatile industry. “The second thing I would loathe to consider: if Social Security ends up with their trust fund diverted into crypto investments, which could crash and burn, 70 million Americans will pay a price that is just too heavy to pay,” Durbin said. Video of Durbin’s questions are available here . Audio of Durbin’s questions are available here . Footage of Durbin’s questions in the spotlight forum is available here for TV Stations. -30- Print Email Share Tweet