Nexo announces return to U.S. market at event with Trump Jr.

Nexo

Crypto asset platform Nexo Capital is returning to the U.S. after previously pulling out amid regulatory friction.

Nexo Co-Founder Antoni Trenchev made the announcement alongside Donald Trump Jr., the president's son, at a conference in Sofia, Bulgaria. Trump, who is an executive at the family backed crypto enterprise World Liberty Financial, was the keynote at the Nexo-hosted event dubbed "Trump Business Vision 2025."

"America is back and so is Nexo," Trenchev said at the event Monday. "Thanks to the vision and leadership of President Donald J. Trump, his administration, and his family, the United States is once again a place where innovation is championed, not stifled. A place where pioneers are celebrated. Nexo is returning to America — stronger, smarter, and determined to win."

Trenchev previously served as a member of Bulgaria's National Assembly.

London-based Nexo, which has been operating since 2018 and says it manages over $11 billion in assets, pulled out of the U.S. market in 2022 and paid a $45 million fine from U.S. regulators for failing to register the offer and sale of securities on its interest earning product. The company had been in negotiations with state and federal regulators for 18 months over its earned interest product, which let customers earn daily compounding yields on certain cryptocurrencies loaned to Nexo, and eventually opted to discontinue U.S. services, calling it an "impossible environment" to operate in. 

Both retail and institutional U.S. clients will soon be able to access Nexo's full array of services including high-yield savings products, asset-backed credit lines and trading. 

The return to U.S. markets, announced at an event bearing the president's family name and alongside his namesake son, comes as President Donald Trump has led a change in approach to cryptocurrencies by regulators in the U.S. 

The Securities and Exchange Commission under the new administration dropped or suspended a slew of lawsuits against crypto companies including Coinbase and Robinhood. The SEC earlier this month declared most stablecoins are not securities and has announced intentions to take a different approach to regulation enforcement around digital assets. 

Trump appointed several crypto-friendly faces to key roles in the first days of his administration, including tapping venture capitalist and crypto proponent David Sacks as White House czar of crypto and artificial intelligence. Trump tapped Scott Bessent, a crypto-friendly hedge fund manager, to head the Treasury Department; Howard Lutnick, the crypto-booster and former Cantor Fitzgerald CEO, to lead the Commerce Department; and Paul Atkins, known for his market-first policy approach, to chair the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The SEC a day after Trump's inauguration announced the formation of a Crypto Task Force led by Hester Pierce, an SEC commissioner known as "Crypto Mom" online for her support of the industry and advocacy for innovation-first regulation.

All three of the Trump sons and their patriarch are involved in World Liberty Financial, a crypto enterprise launched in October co-founded by Zach Witkoff, the son of Steve Witkoff, Trump's special envoy to the Middle East. The elder Trump is "chief crypto advocate" of the company; Barron Trump, his youngest son, is listed on the company's website as the "DeFi visionary" and Eric and Donald Trump Jr. are both "Web3 ambassadors."

"I think crypto is the future of finance," Trump Jr. said at Monday's event. "We see the opportunity for the financial sector and want to ensure we bring that back to the U.S."