There is an ongoing race across the world for Bitcoin accumulation, according to Eric Trump, the second-eldest son of US President Donald Trump. Speaking at a crypto conference in Toronto on May 15, Trump said that from families to government funds, “everybody in the world is trying to hoard Bitcoin right now.”

The remarks came during a panel at Consensus 2025. Sharing the stage with Asher Genoot, the CEO of Bitcoin (BTC) mining company Hut 8, Trump said Bitcoin adoption has been incredible.

“I’m traveling. I’m on a plane. Everybody in the world is trying to hoard Bitcoin right now. Everybody. I hear it from sovereign wealth funds. I hear it from the wealthiest families. I hear from the biggest companies.”Asher Genoot and Eric Trump at Consensus 2025. Source: Cointelegraph

Trump described what he sees as “two races in Bitcoin”: the accumulation race — currently led by Michael Saylor, he says — and the mining race, which marks his own involvement in the crypto space.

President Trump’s third child is co-founder of American Bitcoin, a Hut8 subsidiary. On May 12, the companies announced American Bitcoin would merge with Gryphon Digital Mining in a stock-for-stock transaction that will result with a public listing on the Nasdaq.

Related: Bitcoin bulls aim for new all-time highs by next week as capital inflows soar

Trump crypto ventures cause Democrats consternation

The size of Trump’s family crypto ventures has grown considerably over several years from non-fungible token collections and mining to memecoins and a stablecoin. Critics say the ventures pose conflicts of interest and open the door to potential corruption.

At various points, Democrats have called for investigations into Trump’s crypto-related activities, proposed legislation aimed at limiting potential financial gains by the Trump family from memecoins, and walked out of a joint hearing on digital assets, citing concerns over the lack of discussion around the president’s involvement in the crypto space.

Senate Democrats withdrew their support for a bipartisan stablecoin bill amid ongoing scrutiny of the president’s crypto ventures, though a second voting session could come as soon as May 26.

Magazine: Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading question

Coinbase chief legal officer Paul Grewal addressed some of the concerns raised by US lawmakers and industry leaders around President Donald Trump’s crypto ventures, and how they may affect related legislation.

Speaking at the Consensus conference in Toronto on May 15, Grewal said there had been “hiccups” in Congress since the Senate Banking Committee voted to advance the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins, or GENIUS Act, in March. Though Grewal said there were disputes over “substantial issues that need to be addressed” in the bill, he hinted that Trump’s involvement in the industry was a “complicating factor.” 

“The discussion around the president’s support for a certain memecoin or two and other efforts does add a certain level of challenge to the effort to get Democrats and Republicans aligned on the right way to regulate the [spot market], but I have confidence that the Senate and the House are going to sort all that out,” said Grewal.

Paul Grewal (right) on stage at Consensus in Toronto on May 15. Source: Cointelegraph.

Democrats including Senator Elizabeth Warren explicitly called out the Trump family’s crypto venture, World Liberty Financial, and its USD1 stablecoin in opposing the GENIUS Act. However, some of the bill’s supporters, like Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who proposed an earlier version of the legislation, said they would remove language specifically targeting the president’s crypto ventures.

Related: Democrats seek suspicious activity reports linked to Trump crypto ventures

Whatever the terms for modifications to the bill may be, many lawmakers still expect the Senate to take up another vote in a matter of days. Punchbowl reported on May 15 that Democrats “won major victories” after receiving assurances that some of their concerns around consumer protection, Anti-Money Laundering, and national security safeguards would be addressed.

First stablecoins, then a market structure bill?

The House of Representatives is also considering draft legislation for a digital asset market structure bill, a different iteration of the FIT21 bill that passed the chamber in May 2024. Democratic representatives have similarly pushed back on the legislation, citing “Trump’s crypto corruption.”

“I think we’re gonna learn a lot from the progress we see just in the next few days on stablecoins on the appetite to really tackle all these problems on any schedule that resembles the one that was laid out not long ago by the White House and certain leaders in Congress,” said Grewal.

Magazine: Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions

Global foreign exchange and payments platforms are lobbying hard against stablecoins, which stand to significantly disrupt their business models, investor Kevin O’Leary said during a keynote address at Consensus 2025.

Legacy forex and payments platforms often extract large fees for servicing cross-border cash transfers and stand to lose out on revenue if regulated stablecoins become accepted as a cheaper, faster alternative, O’Leary said at the Toronto conference. 

“Currency trading is a multi-trillion dollar market — and it’s old and ugly and inefficient,” O’Leary said, adding that “[ t]he biggest threat to that monopoly or oligopoly is a regulated stablecoin.” 

“Once that’s approved, the multi-trillion dollar FX market becomes efficient, transparent, and inexpensive,” he said. 

Kevin O’Leary speaking at Consensus. Source: Cointelegraph

Stablecoin legislation

US lawmakers are working on legislation that stands to accelerate global stablecoin adoption, O’Leary added. 

US Senators are aiming to pass the so-called Genius Act — a framework for regulating stablecoins — before the end of May. “As soon as the SEC approves the stablecoin act, every regulator in the US’s circle — Abu Dhabi, Switzerland, England — will follow,” O’Leary said.

“Who’s worried about this? The financial services industry. They hate this idea, and they’re working very hard to stop that bill from happening right now,” he added.

O’Leary said regulatory clarity for stablecoins may be a precursor to broader cryptocurrency reform that could potentially unlock trillions of dollars in institutional capital.

“When this language comes out, people will see really good refinement, a lot of progress, on things like consumer protection, bankruptcy protection, and ethics,” US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand said during an event hosted by Coinbase’s lobbying arm, Stand with Crypto.

As of May 15, stablecoins are collectively worth nearly $250 billion in market capitalization, according to data from CoinGecko. Tether’s US-dollar pegged stablecoin USDT is the leader, with a market cap of around $150 million, the data showed. It’s followed by Circle’s USDC, another US-dollar pegged stablecoin with a market cap of more than $60 billion.

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