Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he didn’t think there was a problem with Donald Trump’s large cryptocurrency earnings, even though many Americans are struggling with high costs.
Trump’s latest financial report, released by the U.S.
Office of Government Ethics, showed his income jumped more than three times in 2025, the year he came back to the White House.He made over $2 billion that year.
Most of that money came from cryptocurrency projects.
The report said more than $1 billion was from crypto-related activities.That included over $635 million from a licensing deal with Celebration Coins and around $500 million from token sales handled by World Liberty Financial LLC, a crypto company backed by the Trump family that started in 2024.
Democratic members of Congress have raised concerns that Trump’s big earnings could lead to a conflict of interest, since his administration has pushed for fewer rules on the crypto industry.
In an interview with CBS News, Bessent was questioned by reporter Kelly O’Grady.
He said he didn’t see any problems with Trump’s financial situation.
“I don’t think there’s an appearance problem,” Bessent said.
He added that the administration is focused on promoting new technologies, including crypto, AI, and digital tools.
He said these innovations help all Americans.
Trump himself said earlier that his 2025 earnings weren’t illegal or wrong.
He told CNBC’s Joe Kernen that there was nothing wrong with his gains.
However, some working Americans and even some people who supported Trump in Florida have said they were frustrated by the reports.
The recent war with Iran caused disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, which led to higher oil prices and increased inflation.
During his CBS interview, Bessent said people dealing with higher prices should see some relief soon.
“Gasoline prices are a little stickier on the way down,” he said.
“We’re trying to give the gasoline retailers a little bit of a nudge.We’re telling them we’re watching them.We’ve had some good uptake from some of the bigger retailers in terms of what they want to do for consumers.”
Even though the June jobs report was weaker than expected, Bessent said he expects inflation to ease and wages to rise faster than prices.
“I would expect, perhaps, as soon as this month, we’re going to see real wage gains,” he said.
He added that the recent strength in the stock market shows confidence that “we’ll get to the other side of this.”
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