Most US voters are uncomfortable with President Donald Trump’s hand on the steering wheel over oversight of the crypto industry, with 62% saying they do not trust his administration on this issue, according to a survey commissioned by CoinDesk.
After the previous administration’s heavy hand on crypto, Trump’s promise to make the United States the “crypto capital of the world” has revived hopes in the sector. The president has deployed his White House to pave the way for crypto-friendly regulation. His administration appointed a high-level crypto czar, issued executive orders to set an agenda for the industry, appointed regulators who pledged to support friendly new rules, and led legislation to create America’s first major crypto law.
However, polling trends appear to show that Trump’s broader political popularity beyond crypto has been steadily declining and his approval rating among US voters is falling, with the latest poll putting it at 40%.
This article is part of a CoinDesk series on voter opinions for the 2026 midterm elections.
Nearly half of respondents (45%) also know that the president and his family have acquired a profitable personal stake in the crypto sector, which includes partial ownership and control of World Liberty Financial and other interests in digital assets. The poll found that 73% of the public opposes top government officials — without identifying any specific one — having personal business dealings with the industry.
Even though Republicans are the most flexible on this point, a strong majority of 59% of GOP voters do not support these kinds of ties either.
However, most people do not know the extent of Trump’s financial involvement, as only 17% of respondents know that he and his sons supported the launch of World Liberty. Although the Trumps have many irons in the crypto fires, World Liberty has drawn particular attention to a number of potential conflicts and controversies.
The online survey conducted last week was evenly split between voters who supported Trump and Democrat Kamala Harris in the last presidential election, so a large majority of respondents doubting his administration’s crypto capabilities appeared to demonstrate a shift since 2024 in sentiment among some of Trump’s voters.
The White House did not respond to requests for comment, but a World Liberty spokesperson responded to the poll data by saying that Trump “is committed to making the United States the crypto capital of the world, and World Liberty wholeheartedly supports that vision.”
“The president has continually delivered on his promise to ensure that one of the most important technological breakthroughs of the century grows and thrives in America,” the company spokesperson said.
In addition to people’s thoughts on Trump and government officials’ involvement in crypto, the survey of 1,000 registered voters by research firm Public Opinion Strategies delved deeper into crypto perceptions and voters’ intentions in this year’s election, revealing that most retain a distrust — or at best uncertainty — of cryptocurrencies and their place in the economy and politics. The public opinion snapshot has a “credibility interval” of approximately 3.5%, representing the statistical uncertainty of the survey results.
The crypto industry has had an uneasy relationship with the president, welcoming his regulatory appointments and policy choices but having to quietly deal with its own business involvement in the sector, which has posed many challenges in lobbying for crypto legislation. The crypto world’s main goal in Washington is to get a new law that would formalize U.S. regulation of the sector, but Trump’s political opponents argue that this benefits his own interests. The current effort is known as the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, and although the Trump White House was one of its main sponsors, its own crypto ties could stand in the way.
The Clarity Act has already passed the U.S. House of Representatives and remains a few steps away in the Senate, but one of the latest sticking points is a Democratic demand that it include a ban on the kind of personal crypto ties that CoinDesk’s poll found most people oppose. The provision aimed at barring top officials from crypto interests clearly had Trump in mind when lawmakers requested it, and bipartisan discussions over its potential form have spanned several months and included exchanges of linguistic ideas in recent days.
In previous attempts, White House officials have said they would not support a bill targeting the president or members of his family. It’s unclear how the final version will avoid affecting Trump while meeting the expectations of Democrats who want to avoid conflicts of interest in government.
The bill will need plenty of Democrats if it is to ultimately win the 60 votes typically required for legislation to pass the Senate.
Last weekend, President Trump spoke at an event bringing together a few hundred of the top investors in his memecoin $TRUMP. There, he assured the crowd that the United States is the “leader in crypto.” He also told them that these assets had “gone mainstream.”
According to the CoinDesk survey, the industry has only become an integral part of the lives of a small segment of the population – not quite dominant. And most have not embraced the industry’s most important political promoter, Trump, as an industry watchdog they are willing to trust.
CoinDesk will release data from this survey on Tuesday at Consensus Miami.
