Trump's Commerce Secretary claims 250K are already waiting for gold cards - but there is nowhere to sign-up
Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick defended President Donald Trump 's proposed 'gold card' visa program, touting that there were already '250,000 waiting in line' for the visa pathway that the gold card program could soon replace.
Just one day after announcing the proposed gold card program, Lutnick told Fox News host Bret Baier that if the '250,000' people were 'willing to pay the $5 million' that the gold card requires, it would amount to 'over $1 trillion dollars' in stimulating the U.S. economy and paying down the national debt.
But it's unclear where Lutnick is obtaining the '250,000' number.
Or where to sign up.
The gold card program, which Lutnick said would replace the EB-5 immigrant investor visa program, has not launched, so there is no way to apply for it – though it is expected to in roughly two weeks.
The government tracks the number of EB-5 applicants every year but analysis of data tables indicates that there is currently a backlog of anywhere from 24,000 to 60,000 applicants – numbers nowhere near 250,000.
The Independent has asked the White House, the Commerce Department and Citizenship and Immigration Services for comment.
EB-5s were created in 1990 as a method for immigrants to obtain green cards. A person must invest at least $1 million in a company –or $800k in a low-income area – that employs at least 10 people.
However, the program has often been criticized for posing a security risk to the U.S. and being an easy avenue for fraud to occur.
The U.S. allocates approximately 18,700 EB-5 visas and caps the number that can be given to individuals from a specific country. In 2024, more than 4,500 EB-5 visas were issued.
Under Trump's gold card visas, wealthy foreigners could invest $5 million in exchange for permanent residency. The president indicated there would be no cap on the number of gold cards issued, as he explained the federal government could sell one million.
Lutnick seemingly echoed that while explaining they could issue gold cards to all alleged 250,000 people waiting in line.
The commerce secretary assured people that all applicants would be properly vetted and subject to U.S. taxes.
'200,000 of these gold, green cards is $1 trillion to pay down our debt and that's why the president is doing it,' Lutnick said. 'Because we are going to balance this budget and we are going to pay off the debt under President Trump.'
But it is unlikely that even those currently waiting for EB-5 visas would be able to make a $5 million investment in exchange for a gold card, as many of the applicants are not ultra-wealthy.
It's even more unlikely that one million foreigners would apply for the gold card. There are approximately 424,000 people in the world with a net worth of $30 million or more, with 277,000 living overseas, according to CNBC.
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Coin Geek
41 minutes ago
- Coin Geek
Senate stablecoin bill advances amid cries of betrayal, corruption
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready... The U.S. Senate is moving forward with its stablecoin legislation despite accusations that Senate leadership reneged on promises to allow an open amendment process. On June 11, the Senate voted 68-30 to invoke cloture on the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act, legislation intended to regulate the use of so-called 'payment stablecoins.' The vote, which mirrored the 68-30 cloture vote conducted last month, approves the revised text filed by Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN) on June 9. GENIUS will now head to the Senate floor for further debate and the extremely unlikely possibility of further amending. A final vote could come later this week but appears more likely to occur early next week. On June 9, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) filed an 'amendment tree' that required unanimous support for any additional amendments to GENIUS, effectively blocking further revisions to the text. Senators who were opposed to GENIUS as written had little recourse beyond engaging in performative (and ultimately impotent) outrage on Wednesday. The brief debate preceding the vote saw Republican senators urge their colleagues to vote 'aye' to ensure proper regulation of stablecoin activity. However, many Democrats railed against President Donald Trump's ever-widening crypto venture portfolio, which includes the USD1 stablecoin issued by the Trump-controlled decentralized finance (DeFi) project World Liberty Financial (WLF). Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), who has introduced legislation to limit Trump's ability to profit off his digital asset ventures, referenced the Abu Dhabi state-run investment firm MGX buying $2 billion worth of USD1 in early May. Merkley noted that two weeks later, Trump was in Abu Dhabi, where he announced he was waiving restrictions on the export of advanced U.S.-made AI chips. Merkley called this apparent quid pro quo 'the Mount Everest of corruption.' Merkley said the president has 'planted a 'government for sale' sign on the White House lawn and individuals and foreign governments are funneling money into his pocket and his family's pocket in order to gain access and influence.' Merkley also took Thune to task for blocking GENIUS amendments after promising an open amendment process. Merkley pointed out that senators had voted on earlier motions to advance GENIUS with the understanding that their amendments would be properly considered. Merkley called Thune's about-turn 'a breach of trust that is simply wrong in this body.' Sen. Michael Bennett (D-CO), who'd filed a GENIUS amendment to prevent elected officials from issuing their digital assets, lamented the fact that some of his Democratic colleagues planned to vote in favor of GENIUS despite the fact that there was 'not a single amendment voted on as part of this bill.' Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), a GENIUS co-sponsor, told her colleagues that while she found the president's crypto ventures 'extremely unhelpful' and she 'would love to ban' his activity, her desire for stablecoin regulation was greater than her disdain for Trump's efforts to line his pockets with crypto cash. The obligatory Tether reference The lack of amendments to GENIUS leaves a rather large loophole in place for 'foreign' stablecoin issuers like Tether—the issuer of the market-leading USDT stablecoin—who wish to issue their tokens in the U.S. while avoiding the regulatory restrictions imposed on domestic issuers. GENIUS only requires foreign issuers to comply with law enforcement requests, while it's left up to the Treasury Secretary to designate a foreign issuer as non-compliant. Moreover, foreign issuers can get a pass if the Treasury concludes that the jurisdiction in which the issuer is based has 'a regulatory and supervisory regime … comparable to' the regime envisioned by GENIUS. In some unfortunate timing for GENIUS supporters, Monday saw the Department of Justice (DoJ) file charges against Russian national Iurii Gugnin for using his fintech firm Evita to launder over half a billion dollars on behalf of sanctioned Russian individuals and entities. Gugnin came to the U.S. mere months after Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent imposition of economic sanctions on Russia by the U.S. and other Western nations. The funds Gugnin laundered allowed Russian firms to acquire prohibited technologies, including those used by Russia's state-owned nuclear operator. As the DoJ notes, during an 18-month period ending January 2025, 'Gugnin used Evita to facilitate the movement of approximately $530 million through the U.S. financial system, most of which he received in the form of a cryptocurrency stablecoin known as Tether.' Tether representatives told the Wall Street Journal that the company 'unequivocally condemns the illegal use of stablecoins.' Nonetheless, USDT remains the digital asset of choice for criminals worldwide. The same day that Gugnin was charged, a different branch of the DoJ reported guilty pleas by five individuals who admitted laundering funds for a Cambodia-based scam operator. The scammers convinced their U.S. victims to convert their dollars into USDT and forward it to the Bahamas-based Deltec Bank, one of Tether's early banking partners. On June 5, the DoJ filed a civil forfeiture complaint against North Korean nationals who tricked U.S. firms into hiring them for remote work. The North Koreans were paid primarily via stablecoins, including USDT and USDC, the latter issued by Circle (NASDAQ: CRCL), which were duly laundered and forwarded to the North Korean government. Back to the top ↑ Trump family flying too close to the crypto Sun? GENIUS Act's forward progress came the day after two House of Representatives committees advanced their chamber's digital asset market structure legislation (CLARITY). All told, there have been worse weeks for U.S. crypto supporters, but not everyone is convinced the legislative tide has officially turned. On Wednesday, Decrypt published an article featuring quotes from anonymous 'top crypto lobbyists' expressing pessimism about market structure legislation's chances of passing Congress this year. One lobbyist said, 'Anyone who disagrees is either delusional or stupid.' The cause for this concern? 'The president's business dealings in crypto while in office.' Singling out the Trump family's WLF, the lobbyist claimed, 'These people, they hate us. They announce a new product every time there's a key vote.' The lobbyist noted that while the House committees were marking up CLARITY, Eric Trump was tweeting about USD1's trading volume hitting new highs, while Don Jr. was retweeting WLF tweets about similar USD1 accomplishments. As if on cue, Wednesday saw Eric tweet his thanks to a tweet by Justin Sun, founder of the TRON blockchain. Sun's tweet celebrated the first minting of USD1 on TRON. Sun's tweet also brought praise from WLF's official X account, which thanked Sun for his support. Sun is a highly controversial figure who was appointed a WLF advisor after purchasing $75 million worth of WLF's governance token WLFI. Sun also purchased over $19 million worth of the $TRUMP memecoin, making him the token's top holder and ensuring his spot at last month's Trump-hosted gala dinner for the 220 biggest $TRUMP whales. Amidst all these Trump crypto cash transfers, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) 'paused' its civil complaint against Sun. In fairness, the SEC has halted nearly all its civil litigation against digital asset operators, but as they say, the optics here aren't great. And they could get much worse. On June 10, Forbes reported on a letter sent to a New York court last month by an independent monitor into the Trump Organization, the umbrella group for the president's business operations. The letter noted a Trump Organization entity (DT Marks LLC) that handled its WLF dealings and that 'a portion of this entity would be sold to a third party.' The letter offered no hints as to who/what this third party might be, nor what size of a stake in DT Marks they may have acquired. Forbes theorized that Sun may have been the third party, and while it offered no proof to support this theory, neither the White House, the Trump Org, WLF, nor Sun himself seemed eager to respond to Forbes' inquiries. Back to the top ↑ Bullish on IPOs In non-Trump stablecoin news, Circle closed out Wednesday's trading on the Nasdaq up 10.7% to $117.20 after nearly dipping below $100 on Tuesday. The GENIUS vote may have put some wind in Circle's sails, but Wednesday's close was well off the $138 peak the stock enjoyed last Friday, its second day of trading on the Nasdaq. Circle's impressive debut had already convinced the Winklevoss twins to file IPO paperwork for their Gemini digital asset exchange, and now rival exchange Bullish is getting in on this action. On June 10, the Financial Times broke the news that the Peter Thiel-backed Bullish Global had confidentially filed its IPO paperwork with the SEC 'in recent weeks.' Confidential filings allow companies to get the IPO ball rolling without having to immediately disclose their financial data to the public. Jefferies Financial Group will act as lead underwriter, confirming February's rumors that Bullish had engaged Jefferies to explore the possibility of a public floatation. A 2021 effort to go public via a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) failed to launch as rising interest rates did a number on stock valuations, and the onset of 'crypto winter' the following year reduced investors' appetite for digital asset firms (Circle also cancelled its original IPO plans that year). Bullish is ranked 12th in terms of trading volume on CoinGecko's list of centralized exchanges (three places ahead of Gemini). It remains to be seen if the Kraken exchange might now accelerate its own IPO plans. In March, Bloomberg reported that the company was targeting a Q1 2026 listing, but who knows what the vibe around digital assets might be by then? Particularly if the Trumps continue to expand their burgeoning crypto interests. Back to the top ↑ CFPB director accuses Trump of 'dismantling' enforcement efforts On June 10, Reuters reported that Cara Petersen, acting enforcement director at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), had resigned in protest of the Trump administration's efforts to hobble the agency's work. Petersen issued a scathing email on her way out the door, saying the Trump administration 'has no intention to enforce the law in any meaningful way.' Petersen, a 15-year CFPB veteran, said, 'Never before have I seen the ability to perform our core mission so under attack.' Petersen said it was 'devastating to see the bureau's enforcement function being dismantled through thoughtless reductions in staff, inexplicable dismissals of cases, and terminations of negotiated settlements that let wrongdoers off the hook.' The CFPB has been under attack by big tech firms for the past couple of years, with crypto execs like Coinbase (NASDAQ: COIN) CEO Brian Armstrong erroneously accusing the CFPB of being 'unconstitutional.' Armstrong's view may have been influenced by Coinbase's notoriously poor customer service, which has led to over 8,200 customer complaints filed against Coinbase with the CFPB. Formed in 2010 in the wake of the global financial crisis, the CFPB has delivered nearly $20 billion in relief to U.S. consumers. However, since Trump was sworn into office in January, the CFPB has been dropping cases almost as fast as the SEC dropped its pursuit of crypto firms. Less than a week before Trump's inauguration, two tech sector lobby groups filed suit against the CFPB, challenging its ability to scrutinize fintech companies. By April, both the House and Senate had revoked the CFPB's ability to monitor tech firms that process digital payments. Proponents of legislation like GENIUS and CLARITY claim the bills will establish sorely needed guardrails that will help protect consumers. However, the federal government is systematically defanging nearly all the agencies that are meant to enforce those guardrails. The CFPB is being neutered, the SEC appears disinterested in policing crypto, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)—which under CLARITY will be given the primary role of regulating crypto—is still awaiting confirmation of its new chairman. But even when Brian Quintenz finally takes his seat at the head of the CFTC table, he'll find four empty chairs where commissioners are supposed to be sitting. There's no question that crypto operators love their newfound freedom from oversight. Whether their customers find the new environment to their liking is very much an open question. Back to the top ↑ Watch: Breaking down solutions to blockchain regulation hurdles title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen="">
Glasgow Times
an hour ago
- Glasgow Times
Exports to US slump at record pace in ‘payback' after rush ahead of tariff hikes
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the value of goods exported to America tumbled by £2 billion in April – the fastest pace since records began in 1997. The drop was led by machinery and transport, including cars, according to separate trade figures from the ONS on Thursday. Exports of goods to the United States fell by £2.0 billion in April, with decreases across most commodities. This is the largest monthly decrease since records began and follows four consecutive monthly increases. — Office for National Statistics (ONS) (@ONS) June 12, 2025 The value of goods exports to the US are now at their lowest level since February 2022, it added. In total, exports of UK goods in April fell 8.8%, or by £2.7 billion, to £13.7 billion. It follows four months in a row of rising US exports as American importers stocked up ahead of Mr Trump's tariff rises, which came into effect at the start of April. Commenting on today's trade figures, ONS Director of Economic Statistics Liz McKeown said: (quote 1 of 1) Read more ➡️ — Office for National Statistics (ONS) (@ONS) June 12, 2025 Imports of goods from the US, including precious metals, also fell in April, down by £400 million. ONS director of economic statistics Liz McKeown said: 'After increasing for each of the four preceding months, April saw the largest monthly fall on record in goods exports to the US with decreases seen across most types of goods, following the recent introduction of tariffs.' Exports to the US of machinery and transport equipment, and material manufactures, both tumbled by £800 million in the month, with car exports heavily down. But the ONS said there was also a significant drop in car exports to the European Union in April, with a £900 million decline for machinery and transport. Overall, total goods exports to the EU fared even worse in April, down by £2.1 billion or 12.6%. Mr Trump unleashed so-called reciprocal tariffs on America's largest trading partners at the start of April, including the UK. Britain has since struck a deal that will see UK exports avoid the worst of the trade duties, with a baseline tariff of 10% and exemptions for some key goods, such as steel and aluminium and removing tariffs on UK aluminium and steel exports. But these tariff reductions have not yet come into effect, with aims to finalise the deal by July 9. Experts said last month saw 'payback' for a rush to beat the US tariff hikes earlier in the year. The total underlying trade deficit widened £4.9bn to £11.5bn in the 3 months to April 2025, because of a larger rise in imports than exports. — Office for National Statistics (ONS) (@ONS) June 12, 2025 Sandra Horsfield, an economist at Investec, said: 'Distortions around known deadlines were always going to take place and always going to be followed by payback – no matter where, in the end, tariffs landed. 'The bigger question will be how output fares in the coming months, once these temporary effects fade. 'The UK may have secured an agreement to shelter the first 100,000 of cars (roughly the existing level of its car exports to the US) at lower tariffs than other countries face, but this is yet to be signed off by President Trump. 'What will remain is uncertainty over tariffs more widely and importantly the indirect impact this will have on the UK economy,' she added. The ONS figures showed the total goods and services trade deficit widened by £4.9 billion to £11.5 billion in the three months to April, as the rise in imports outweighed the rise in exports. The trade in goods deficit widened by £4.4 billion to £60 billion in the three months to April, while the trade in services surplus is estimated to have narrowed by £500 million to £48.5 billion.
South Wales Argus
an hour ago
- South Wales Argus
Exports to US slump at record pace in ‘payback' after rush ahead of tariff hikes
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the value of goods exported to America tumbled by £2 billion in April – the fastest pace since records began in 1997. The drop was led by machinery and transport, including cars, according to separate trade figures from the ONS on Thursday. Exports of goods to the United States fell by £2.0 billion in April, with decreases across most commodities. This is the largest monthly decrease since records began and follows four consecutive monthly increases. — Office for National Statistics (ONS) (@ONS) June 12, 2025 The value of goods exports to the US are now at their lowest level since February 2022, it added. In total, exports of UK goods in April fell 8.8%, or by £2.7 billion, to £13.7 billion. It follows four months in a row of rising US exports as American importers stocked up ahead of Mr Trump's tariff rises, which came into effect at the start of April. Commenting on today's trade figures, ONS Director of Economic Statistics Liz McKeown said: (quote 1 of 1) Read more ➡️ — Office for National Statistics (ONS) (@ONS) June 12, 2025 Imports of goods from the US, including precious metals, also fell in April, down by £400 million. ONS director of economic statistics Liz McKeown said: 'After increasing for each of the four preceding months, April saw the largest monthly fall on record in goods exports to the US with decreases seen across most types of goods, following the recent introduction of tariffs.' Exports to the US of machinery and transport equipment, and material manufactures, both tumbled by £800 million in the month, with car exports heavily down. But the ONS said there was also a significant drop in car exports to the European Union in April, with a £900 million decline for machinery and transport. Overall, total goods exports to the EU fared even worse in April, down by £2.1 billion or 12.6%. Mr Trump unleashed so-called reciprocal tariffs on America's largest trading partners at the start of April, including the UK. Britain has since struck a deal that will see UK exports avoid the worst of the trade duties, with a baseline tariff of 10% and exemptions for some key goods, such as steel and aluminium and removing tariffs on UK aluminium and steel exports. But these tariff reductions have not yet come into effect, with aims to finalise the deal by July 9. Experts said last month saw 'payback' for a rush to beat the US tariff hikes earlier in the year. The total underlying trade deficit widened £4.9bn to £11.5bn in the 3 months to April 2025, because of a larger rise in imports than exports. — Office for National Statistics (ONS) (@ONS) June 12, 2025 Sandra Horsfield, an economist at Investec, said: 'Distortions around known deadlines were always going to take place and always going to be followed by payback – no matter where, in the end, tariffs landed. 'The bigger question will be how output fares in the coming months, once these temporary effects fade. 'The UK may have secured an agreement to shelter the first 100,000 of cars (roughly the existing level of its car exports to the US) at lower tariffs than other countries face, but this is yet to be signed off by President Trump. 'What will remain is uncertainty over tariffs more widely and importantly the indirect impact this will have on the UK economy,' she added. The ONS figures showed the total goods and services trade deficit widened by £4.9 billion to £11.5 billion in the three months to April, as the rise in imports outweighed the rise in exports. The trade in goods deficit widened by £4.4 billion to £60 billion in the three months to April, while the trade in services surplus is estimated to have narrowed by £500 million to £48.5 billion.
