The crypto industry braces for scrutiny tied to Trump connections, as Democrats vow to investigate the president's family.

BlockBeats news, November 8 - According to a report by the UK's Financial Times, after Democrats won majorities in both chambers of Congress in the US midterm elections, they have pledged to investigate the Trump family and its ties to the crypto industry, and crypto executives are preparing for stricter congressional scrutiny. Robert Garcia, who will become chairman of the House Oversight Committee in January next year, said the investigation will include the Trump family and its crypto business profits.

Trump earned more than $1.16 billion last year through crypto asset sales and token royalties, a large portion of which came from the family project World Liberty Financial. The project will be a key target of a Senate investigation committee planned to be led by Senator Richard Blumenthal. World Liberty previously said Trump has not been involved in company affairs since taking office as president.

Over the past two years, Democratic senators including Blumenthal and Elizabeth Warren have repeatedly sent inquiries to companies such as Binance and Tether over suspected illegal activities, but executives largely ignored them. Once Democrats control both chambers, they will be able to use subpoena power, and ignoring subpoenas could lead to civil or criminal penalties. Ron Hammond, head of policy and advocacy at Wintermute, said that even if companies have legally obtained licenses issued by agencies led by Trump-appointed officials, they should be prepared for scrutiny if they are also seen as significant donors to Trump or his projects.

In this election, the crypto industry invested nearly $200 million through the Fairshake super PAC and another PAC backed by Tether, but still suffered defeats in many of the races it supported. Fairshake's funders include Coinbase, Ripple, and a16z, among others.

Joshua Riezman, chief legal and strategy officer at GSR, said the pressure the new Congress will bring to the crypto industry will be real, and its demands will differ from those of the previous Congress. However, he also believes that as Congress deepens its understanding of the crypto industry, investigations are expected to adopt a more targeted approach, distinguishing good actors from bad actors in the industry.