Trump’s Meme Coin Soirée Sparks Regulatory Side-Eye
When politics meets shitcoinery, the SEC starts taking notes.
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The ’Dinner of Deals’
Former President Trump’s latest venture—hosting a high-profile dinner promoting his eponymous meme coin—has watchdogs raising eyebrows. No subpoenas... yet. But the optics reek of ’pump-and-dump nostalgia,’ says one crypto compliance officer (who requested anonymity, naturally).
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Regulators Circle
Sources hint at undisclosed whale wallets tied to the event. Meanwhile, traders pile in—because nothing says ’sound investment’ like a token backed by political clout and medium-rare steak.
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Finance’s New Clowns
Wall Street used to wear suits. Now it wears clown noses—and buys JPEGs of politicians. Progress?
Trump’s top 5 crypto dinner guests ranked by popularity
Justin Sun, the founder of TRON and a Chinese crypto billionaire who has previously faced charges brought by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), was one of the key attendees. Sun is a major investor in the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial, a DeFi firm. Sun is also the largest TRUMP token holder, with nearly $22 million in the President’s meme coin and nearly $75 million in World Liberty Financial’s native token.
Justin Sun’s tweet on TRUMP Gala | Source: X
Florida-based crypto investor Anthony Bravo, who previously made headlines for getting his girlfriend arrested for stealing $850,000 worth of TRUMP tokens from him, is also listed as an attendee in The New York Times story.
Delphi Digital’s co-founders and market Maker Wintermute’s CEO were among the invitees, alongside Trump’s business partner and friend Bill Zanker, according to the NYT.
Why Democrats are pressing for details of the source of funds
House Democrats have launched an investigation into Trump’s dinner, according to a Washington Post story. Representative Jamie Raskin asked for a detailed list of dinner guests and stated that he WOULD investigate Trump’s crypto venture.
Democrats believe there are serious ethical and legal concerns related to the private dinner, including the expenditure of the dinner, the source of funds used by the invitees to purchase the TRUMP token, which implies the involvement of foreign governments seeking to influence the WHITE House.
The article quotes Rep.Raskin’s letter,
“Publication of this list will also let the American people know who is putting tens of millions of dollars into our President’s pocket so we can start to figure out what — beyond virtually worthless memecoins — they are getting in exchange for all this money.”
Reps are concerned over the political entities’ profit from coin sales, whether buyers faced disclosure requirements and other legal constraints that are typically applied to political campaign donations.
The party is far from over
The Trump Media and Technology Group signed the fine print to raise $2.5 billion from 50 investors to purchase Bitcoin and set up a strategic reserve, raising further questions on the Trump family’s crypto-related business deals, the Middle East deals and the operations of Delaware-registered Fight Fight Fight run by Trump’s longtime friend and associate Bill Zanker. Together the entities hold 80% of TRUMP token’s total supply, fueling the Democrat’s concerns over Trump’s crypto parties.
