U.S. Senate's Warren asks for Trump-tied crypto probe as market structure bill drags

Policy Share Share this article Copy link X icon X (Twitter) LinkedIn Facebook Email U.S. Senate's Warren asks for Trump-tied crypto probe as market structure bill drags The influential Democrat is the most vocal critic of the crypto legislation, and she continues to throw rhetorical sand in the gears of the negotiation. By Jesse Hamilton | Edited by Nikhilesh De Dec 16, 2025, 5:58 p.m. U.S Senator Elizabeth Warren wants an investigation into DeFi and its connections to Preside(Jesse Hamilton/CoinDesk) What to know : U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, is calling for a probe into DeFi platforms, especially on their relationship with the business interests of President Donald Trump. Warren's pushback comes as the Senate is still negotiating the details of a crypto market structure bill, a process that's now drifted into January. U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren has asked for another U.S. national-security probe into a corner of the crypto sector, specifying concerns with PancakeSwap, a decentralized exchange she flagged as trying to amplify coins issued by President Donald Trump-connected World Liberty Financial Inc. STORY CONTINUES BELOW Don't miss another story. Subscribe to the State of Crypto Newsletter today . See all newsletters Sign me up By signing up, you will receive emails about CoinDesk products and you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . She said the exchange , which operates across several blockchains and is a major protocol on Binance's chain, should be reviewed for connection to "any improper political influence by the Trump Administration on enforcement decisions," Warren said in a Monday letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Attorney General Pam Bondi, asking for them to look into it, echoing a similar request she was involved with last month regarding WLFI. “As Congress considers crypto market structure legislation — including rules to prevent terrorists, criminals, and rogue states from exploiting decentralized finance (DeFi) to fund their activities — it is critical to understand whether you are seriously investigating these risks,” wrote Warren, who is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee that must mark up the legislation and approve it before the wider Senate can take a vote Warren has largely been sidelined on crypto negotiations in her committee as a significant group of fellow Democrats has agreed to negotiate with Republicans on the bill to regulate the wider U.S. crypto markets. That process failed to meet the industry's hopes for action before the end of the year, and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott has said it'll now be on the panel's plate in January. Warren criticized the DeFi platforms that "facilitate hundreds of millions of dollars in transactions per day and do not require users to register or show any form of identification to trade." DeFi treatment remains one of the major points still to resolve between the parties on the market structure bill, and crypto insiders have described it as a red-line issue that could decide whether or not the industry will or won't support the final legislation. It's unlikely that Trump's own administration will respond to a request to investigate the president's business interests. White House officials and the president have continued to argue that his crypto ties don't constitute a conflict of interests. That's another of the sticking points in the market structure bill negotiations — a request by Democrats to ban senior government officials from pursuing business interests within the sector. Though negotiators from both sides have expressed confidence they'll get to a compromise bill in the Senate, the White House has already rejected some initial proposals on that point, raising questions about the status of the talks that'll resume next month. If the negotiation drags for more than a few weeks into the new year, it could run afoul of Congress' budget talks that come to a head around a Jan. 30 deadline. Last time, the budget dispute shut down the federal government for weeks and further delayed the crypto legislation. Read More: BNB tops $870, outperforming crypto majors as volume surges Sen. Elizabeth Warren Donald Trump World Liberty Financial Pancakeswap Больше для вас Protocol Research: GoPlus Security Автор CoinDesk Research 14 нояб. 2025 г. Commissioned by GoPlus Что нужно знать : As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M. GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month. Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B. View Full Report More For You U.S. FDIC proposes first U.S. stablecoin rule to emerge from GENIUS Act By Jesse Hamilton | Edited by Nikhilesh De 1 hour ago The banking regulator began its formal rulemaking process to set up the procedures by which depository institutions can start stablecoin subsidiaries. What to know : The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which regulates thousands of banks in the U.S., has issued its first proposal of a rule governing the application process for issuing stablecoins. The propsoal would effect depository institutions that want to set up subsidiaries for issuing the dollar-backed tokens. Read full story Latest Crypto News BNB tops $870, outperforming crypto majors as volume surges 23 minutes ago Marshall Islands launches world’s first blockchain-based UBI on Stellar blockchain 24 minutes ago Polkadot advances as Coinbase unlocks integration with USDC stablecoin 46 minutes ago Eric Trump’s American Bitcoin jumps to 20th among public BTC treasury companies 46 minutes ago U.S. FDIC proposes first U.S. stablecoin rule to emerge from GENIUS Act 1 hour ago Tether leads $8 million investment in Speed to push USDT further into everyday payments 1 hour ago Top Stories U.S. FDIC proposes first U.S. stablecoin rule to emerge from GENIUS Act 1 hour ago Bitcoin bounces from Monday's worst levels, but sub-$80,000 may come next, analyst says 2 hours ago Eric Trump’s American Bitcoin jumps to 20th among public BTC treasury companies 46 minutes ago U.S. added 64,000 jobs in November, with unemployment rate jumping to four-year high of 4.6% 4 hours ago Bulls beware — BofA Fund Manager Survey flashing contrarian sell signal 3 hours ago Visa brings Circle's USDC settlement to U.S. banks following $3.5 billion stablecoin pilot 5 hours ago