The Republic Standard News Staff
Federal financial disclosure records reviewed by CNBC show that Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, carried between $1 million and $5 million in vested Coinbase shares through the end of 2025. That stake persisted nearly 11 months into President Donald Trump’s second term, even as the administration overhauled federal digital-asset policy from the ground up.
Hassett spent four years advising Coinbase before joining the Trump White House in January 2025. The disclosure covers only calendar year 2025 and does not confirm whether he still holds the shares today. The White House has not answered questions from CNBC about his current position or whether the ownership bars him from working on matters that fall under his office.
Structure of the Crypto Working Group
Three days after taking office, Trump signed an executive order creating the President’s Working Group on Digital Asset Markets, housed within the NEC. The order named Hassett’s position, or a designee, as a member of the group and required that its final recommendations reach the president through the NEC. David Sacks, then serving as White House crypto advisor, chaired the group. Its mandate covered proposed changes to digital-asset regulation, banking rules, stablecoins, and taxation.
Despite that structural role, Hassett has said he stepped back from cryptocurrency matters while ethics officials worked through his investment situation. When CNBC asked him about the shares in June 2025, he said he had held off on selling to avoid any suggestion that a sale was timed around policy decisions, and that he was following guidance from “the ethics people” while figuring out what steps were required. The working group’s final report lists Robin Colwell, a deputy assistant to the president for national economic policy, as the NEC’s representative rather than Hassett.
White House spokesperson Kush Desai said Hassett is in full compliance with applicable ethics requirements and has continued to recuse himself from cryptocurrency-related matters.
Conflict-of-Interest Concerns
Virginia Canter, chief counsel at Democracy Defenders Fund, told CNBC that Hassett faces either an actual conflict of interest or a serious appearance of one. She pointed out that a recusal of that scope could cut him off from coordinating policy with the Treasury Department, the Commerce Department, the SEC, and the CFTC, all of which are central to the administration’s crypto agenda.
Administration Actions and Coinbase’s Political Footprint
The Trump administration reversed a range of Biden-era crypto policies, established a government bitcoin reserve, and pushed Congress toward a comprehensive federal regulatory framework. The SEC dropped its enforcement lawsuit against Coinbase with prejudice just over a month into Trump’s term, saying the dismissal was meant to clear the way for broader regulatory reform rather than reflecting any judgment on the merits. The agency had originally charged Coinbase in 2023 with running an unregistered securities exchange and failing to properly register its staking program.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong attended Trump’s White House crypto summit in March 2025 and held a private meeting with the president that same month. He was back at the White House in August 2025 as Trump pushed Congress to pass the Clarity Act. Coinbase was also a leading financial backer of the Fairshake super PAC during the 2024 elections, and the company has pledged $25 million in spending ahead of this year’s midterms.
Trump himself reported more than $1.4 billion in income from family cryptocurrency ventures in 2025, including proceeds tied to Trump-linked World Liberty Financial. Coinbase shares have fallen since Trump returned to office.