trump announces tariffs. market crashes. then he says they’re not sustainable and market starts gradually rising. trump family made $1b on crypto. what’s going on here?

oct 10: trump threatened 100% tariffs. markets panicked and about $16–19 billion in leveraged crypto positions were liquidated, wiping out many traders.

days later: he confirmed a meeting with xi and said the 100% tariff idea was “not sustainable,” effectively softening the policy stance that helped trigger the sell off.

meanwhile: the Financial Times reports the trump family has made roughly $1 billion in pre-tax profits from crypto ventures since the election. that reporting is the basis for the conflict of interest concerns.

the timing looks sus. whatis going on here?

political theater? scare china with a hard line, negotiate back. tariffs become leverage, not the end goal. traders get collateral damage. normal trade negotiation stuff.

policy testing? drop a shock to see market reaction, then calibrate strategy based on fallout. messy but plausible.

conflict of interest? if the family had holdings exposed, a crash and subsequent policy pivot could create trading opportunities. the optics are bad… and that alone justifies independent scrutiny and disclosure.

genuine error? trump makes a bad call, sees chaos, steps back.

regardless of intent, markets hate unpredictability. real people lost real money. a president whose family profits from the industry he regulates raises serious conflict of interest questions.

watch asset disclosures tied to policy moves. on-chain data for large wallet trades. congressional pressure for answers.