John Oliver returned to Last Week Tonight with a scathing takedown of Donald Trump and his family’s sprawling cryptocurrency empire, calling the president’s digital currency dealings “flagrantly corrupt and compromised.” The host didn’t waste time warming up, opening with a jab at Trump’s appearance — suggesting he looked as if he was “slowly turning into Mrs Doubtfire” — before pivoting to what he dubbed Trump’s legacy as “the first crypto president.” It’s a striking label for a man who once dismissed bitcoin outright as “a scam,” but as Oliver noted, Trump had what he called a “pretty significant change of heart” after realizing the crypto industry was “willing to spend a shitload helping him get elected.” That change of heart has been extraordinarily lucrative. In his first year back in office, Trump reportedly earned more than $2.2 billion, with roughly $1.4 billion of that flowing from the family’s crypto ventures, which have now become their dominant business interest.
Oliver narrowed his focus to two ventures he described as “the big one and the dumb one” — a crack he noted mirrored how Trump might refer to his sons Eric and Don Jr. The first involved Trump’s memecoins, novelty digital tokens that Oliver characterized as little more than “pump and dump schemes” that spike in value before crashing while insiders cash out at the peak. Trump announced his own memecoin on social media, quickly followed by one from Melania, and while some observers initially suspected the president’s account had been hacked, Oliver quipped that the real tell would have been “a normal coherent sentence without any randomly capitalized words.” The coin was briefly valued at around $50 billion before plummeting 92% from its peak by the following November. More than a million people who bought in ended up losing money, which Oliver called “pretty shitty” but merely the tip of the iceberg. In one of his “weirder interludes,” Trump even tried to boost the coin’s value by offering White House access to investors, and while attendees called the resulting dinner a bust, the coin’s value still jumped 30%.
The second venture, World Liberty Financial, was co-founded with his sons and announced just weeks before the 2024 election. It has since become more valuable than any other business in the Trump family portfolio. Oliver highlighted what he described as a pattern of investors pouring money into the company while simultaneously seeking favorable treatment from the administration. He pointed to Justin Sun, the eccentric Chinese millionaire who once made headlines for buying and eating a $6.2 million banana, who spent $75 million on World Liberty tokens and nearly $38 million on memecoins while fighting an SEC investigation alleging investor fraud. After Sun’s investments, the SEC paused its investigation and the case was eventually settled. Oliver also pointed to an investment firm linked to the United Arab Emirates that funneled money into Trump’s company around the same time the UAE was pushing for access to advanced American computer chips that had been blocked under the Biden administration. The approval came through afterward — a connection some have called “extraordinary,” though Oliver joked that his preferred word would cost “a few million in legal fees.”
The host also flagged how Trump has systematically dismantled crypto oversight since returning to office. He promised to fire SEC chair Gary Gensler, who was viewed as tough on the industry, drawing cheers at a bitcoin conference. Gensler stepped down on Trump’s first day back, replaced by the more crypto-friendly Paul Atkins, after which roughly 60% of related enforcement cases were eased. Oliver warned that Trump is now pushing legislation called the Clarity Act to lock in that lax regulatory environment for the foreseeable future, moving oversight to a small agency with limited enforcement power — changes he said could be difficult to undo and should be worrying viewers. After HBO’s legal team reached out to the White House for comment, an email asserted that Trump “only acts in the best interests of the American public,” which Oliver dryly noted would be “huge for this country if true.” Despite Trump’s claims that he stays out of the business because his sons handle it — a claim Oliver said he could almost believe given that Trump’s “wedding present to Don Jr was to not show up” — the host said it is “really hard to believe that Trump is unaware,” given how effectively the company is exploiting regulatory gaps for maximum profit while making it easier for others to do the same.