U.S. President Donald Trump is boasting about his administration’s efforts to crack down on foreign criminal networks that scam Americans with fraudulent cryptocurrency investments.
The White House announced that Trump will hold an event about cyber crime prevention on Oct. 21, weeks before the midterm congressional elections.
Trump and members of his cabinet are expected to highlight the government's seizure of fraudulent crypto investments and the shutdown of websites that perpetrate online scams.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, FBI Director Kash Patel, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Attorney General Todd Blanche are expected to attend the event.
Americans filed more than a million complaints with the FBI about crypto scams last year, a 17% increase from 2024, according to an agency report.
Trump's efforts to crack down on crypto are complicated by the fact that his own family is heavily involved in soliciting crypto investments from the public.
Media reports say that Trump and his sons have added $2.3 billion U.S. to the family fortune from various crypto ventures over the past two years, which include several meme coins.
Trump has also been criticized for pardoning Changpeng Zhao (CZ), the Canadian founder of the Binance cryptocurrency exchange who was convicted on money laundering charges.
Trump has ordered the U.S. Justice Department to identify and prosecute scammers who carry out crypto crimes online.
Bitcoin (BTC), the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, is trading at $83,500 U.S. on Oct. 21.
