Latest news with #TrumpCoin
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump's Team ‘Knows Nothing' About Apparent ‘$TRUMP Wallet' Launch
A representative of the Trump Organization said the group 'knows nothing' about a crypto wallet project called the '$TRUMP Wallet,' despite the app's branding and claims being tied to the U.S. president. 'The Trump Organization knows nothing about this project," a spokesperson for the Trump Organization told CoinDesk. Meanwhile, an X account linked to the President's memecoins said that the wallet was 'coming soon,' even after several of his representatives denied the rumors. The app, according to its sparse but live website, promises users the ability to hold and trade digital assets. It includes no technical documentation or launch timeline but features a waitlist for early access. Magic Eden, the crypto marketplace reportedly involved in the project, had confirmed the project through a post by its CEO Jack Lu on X. U.S. President Donald Trump has leaned into crypto since reentering the political arena ahead of last year's election. Past initiatives tied to Trump include World Liberty Financial, a stablecoin venture, and the meme tokens Trump Coin and Melania Coin, both of which launched before his 2025 inauguration. According to the wallet's website, Magic Eden is working with the website behind the Trump memecoin. Donald Trump Jr., one of the president's children, also said in an X post that the organization has "zero involvement with this wallet product," but that World Liberty will "soon" launch its own wallet. His youngest son, Barron Trump, also denied the partnership. Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk's full AI Policy. UPDATE (June 8, 19:24 UTC): Adds X post by Barron Trump denying the partnership. UPDATE (June 8, 20:46 UTC): Adds X post by account affiliated with Trump's memecoins. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
CBS News
22-05-2025
- Business
- CBS News
As Trump hosts crypto gala, experts continue to raise conflict of interest concerns
When President Trump's new tariffs started throttling freight traffic, the leader of trucking logistics firm Freight Technologies used an unorthodox method to try and get the president's attention. The California-based firm purchased $2 million worth of Trump Coin, the signature cryptocurrency backed by Mr. Trump. The president and his family launched Trump Coin days before he took office in January. Anyone can buy the cryptocurrency. An analytics firm says Mr. Trump's family and other backers have collected more than $300 million in transaction fees so far. Donald Quinby, Freight Technologies' chief financial officer, told CBS News that the purchase seemed like "really the best platform for us to make a splash, to make some noise." "With the Trump meme token, this was just an opportunity to really advocate for free and fair trade," Quinby said. "I'm sure he likes to follow who's purchasing his coins." In April, the Trump family announced an "intimate private dinner" with the president at Mr. Trump's golf course in Virginia to reward the biggest buyers of Trump Coin, or $TRUMP. A leaderboard was created so buyers could compete with one another. Buyers eventually spent $140 million trying to secure access to the event, according to data analytics firm Inca Digital. A message on the $TRUMP leaderboard. Some of the 220 leading buyers of $TRUMP received tickets to attend the dinner. Mr. Trump will also host a smaller reception for the token's top 25 holders. The guests are beneficiaries of a new opportunity to gain access and potential influence in a city with a long history of blending money and politics, experts said. "This is really unprecedented," said Jessica Tillipman, a George Washington University law professor. "This appears to be a president that could be potentially benefiting privately from something that he's doing out in the open." The White House pushed back hard on the notion that the gala dinner or the president's role in promoting the cryptocurrency crossed any ethical lines. Administration officials said they had not approved an initial plan suggesting top buyers of the meme coin product would receive a White House tour. "This is a personal dinner that the president is attending on his personal time," a White House official told CBS News in a statement. "The White House has absolutely nothing to do with it." Trump rewards cryptocurrency buyers Meme coins are a type of cryptocurrency whose value is largely driven by social media buzz. They are not usually used in transactions, and are known for erratic price shifts. $TRUMP peaked at around $75 shortly after launch and plummeted to under $8 by April 2025, but soared in value after the dinner with Mr. Trump was announced. Among the attendees of Thursday's dinner is Justin Sun, a Chinese-born crypto billionaire and the largest holder of Trump Coin. Sun has a net worth of $8.5 billion, according to Forbes, and is best known for creating the Tron blockchain. He was also the buyer who paid $6.2 million for a banana duct-taped to a wall by artist Maurizio Cattelan. Sun promptly ate the fruit. Sun was sued for fraud by the Biden administration for allegedly "fraudulently manipulating the secondary market" and paying celebrities to promote a crypto token his company created "without disclosing their compensation." Earlier this year, the Securities and Exchange Commission paused the lawsuit as part of a broader Trump administration shift toward easing crypto enforcement. Justin Sun, founder of TRON, speaks at the Milken Institute Asia Summit in Singapore, on Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022. The event started with invitation only sessions on Sept. 28, runs through September 30. Photographer: Bryan van der Beek/Bloomberg via Getty Images Bloomberg Sun also said his firm has invested tens of millions in the Trump-linked World Liberty Financial. But the anonymous nature of cryptocurrency allows Sun, and other foreign buyers like him, to court access to power with little transparency. "It's almost like the perfect kind of opaque structure for any type of foreign government or, you know, non-U.S. citizens who wanted to try to seek favor, curry favor with this particular administration," Tillipman said. Experts raise concerns about conflicts of interest Tillipman compared the Trump family's foray into cryptocurrency to Hunter Biden's art sales during his father's administration. "The argument was that [purchasers of Hunter Biden's artwork] could use it to influence" then-President Joe Biden, she said. Like cryptocurrency, "a lot of these types of transactions are by nature opaque because you don't know who's purchasing it. You don't know who the buyer is," Tillipman said. She noted that in effect, the Biden administration tried to distance the president from the transactions by saying information about the buyers and transactions would be kept secret by the gallery owner. Nonetheless, she said "there were a lot of legitimate concerns associated with that particular dealing, as there was fear that it could be a back door to President Biden" through a family member. "The difference here is just the order of magnitude and the involvement of the president himself," Tillipman said. Hunter Biden's art netted him about $1.5 million by the end of his father's presidency, compared to the potentially far more lucrative Trump family crypto business. Mr. Trump has previously vowed on social media to "make sure the U.S. is the Crypto Capital of the World." He and his eldest sons are also backing the crypto exchange World Liberty Financial, and cryptocurrency makes up about $2.9 billion of Mr. Trump's net worth, according to a recent report. On Monday, the Senate advanced the GENIUS Act, which would regulate stablecoins, a type of cryptocurrency that is linked to the value of an asset like the U.S. dollar or gold. They tend to have fewer price fluctuations than meme coins, but allow for the same opacity in transactions. Some Democrats pushed back against the bill, citing Mr. Trump's crypto holdings and calling for anti-corruption rules. "This is corruption out in the open," said Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, on Thursday. "The GENIUS Act will supercharge Donald Trump's ability to collect money from anybody who is seeking pardon, who wants tariff relief, who wants a criminal prosecution dropped." The White House has dismissed criticisms that Mr. Trump's support for the crypto sector represents a conflict of interest. "All of the president's assets are in a blind trust, which is managed by his children, and I would argue, one of the many reasons that the American people reelected this president back to this office is because he was a very successful businessman before giving it up to publicly serve our country," press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a briefing Thursday. Quinby found that buying the meme coin didn't immediately result in access to the president. Freight Technologies didn't make it to the leaderboard, but they are prepared to keep spending. The trucking company reported in public securities filings that their investment in $TRUMP could eventually reach $20 million, if that's what it takes to get Mr. Trump's attention. Even if they lose money on the market, Quinby thinks it was worth the risk. "We thought the ability for us to get out there and advocate for the fair and free trade, we thought it was worth it," Quinby said.
Int'l Business Times
20-05-2025
- Politics
- Int'l Business Times
Rubio 'Didn't Even Know' About Trump's Upcoming Memecoin Dinner Involving Foreign Guests: 'This is the First I've Heard of It'
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio listens as he testifies at a Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Hearings to examine proposed budget estimates for fiscal year 2026 for the Department of State at Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on May 20, 2025. Secretary of State Marco Rubio testified at a Senate hearing Tuesday where he claimed he "didn't even know" about an exclusive dinner President Donald Trump is hosting this week for the top 220 holders of his memecoin. Many of the top 200 holders of TrumpCoin are foreign nationals, according to a Bloomberg report, raising concerns about potential national security implications and foreign influence. When questioned by Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), Rubio claimed it was the first he heard of the event. "I didn't even know there was a dinner Thursday night," he said. "So I'm not sure what you're referring to." MURPHY: Let me ask you about the dinner that's happening this Thursday. The president has offered access to him to the 200 top purchasers of his memecoin. Maybe about half or more of those individuals who will be meeting with him are foreigners. Do you have a list? RUBIO: I... — Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 20, 2025 Murphy pressed on: "So you don't know whether any of the foreign individuals who are going to be meeting with the president this Thursday are on our sanctioned list or have connections to, let's say, terrorist organizations abroad?" Rubio deflected, stating that if such individuals had links to terrorism, the Department of Homeland Security likely wouldn't have admitted them into the country. "You're asking me about something I don't know about. I can't answer you because I don't know anything about this dinner." "That in and of itself is a problem," Murphy said, suggesting the event could allow wealthy foreign individuals to bypass normal diplomatic channels and gain direct access to the U.S. president. Rubio dismissed the concerns, calling it "not unusual" for the president to have friendships or meetings with private individuals, foreign or domestic. "I don't have any concern that the president having dinner with someone is going to contravene the national security of the United States." People walk past a cryptocurrency exchange office with a screen featuring US President Donald Trump holding cryptocurrency coins in Hong Kong on March 12, 2025. Trump's involvement in crypto has come under increased scrutiny during his second term, which he and First Lady Melania Trump kicked off with the release of their own memecoins. In March, Trump signed an executive order establishing a "Crypto Strategic Reserve." Additionally, the president and his sons hold the owning stake of World Liberty Financial, a cryptocurrency firm that is set to receive a $2 billion investment from Abu-Dhabi this year. The Trump Organization executive vice-president Eric Trump (R), World Liberty Financial co-founder Zach Witkoff, son to Steve Witkoff who serves as Trump's Special Envoy to the Middle East, (C) and Tron Justin Sun, a Chinese-born crypto billionaire (L), participate in a session during the Token 2049 crypto conference in Dubai on May 1, 2025. According to a report from State Democracy Defenders Action, the Trump family has profited $2.9 billion from cryptocurrency during the past six months alone. The White House maintains that the Trump Organization is managed by Trump's sons and its business ventures and investments create no conflicts of interest for the president. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt dismissed concerns prior to Trump's tour of the Middle East, which centered on business deals. "I think it's frankly ridiculous that anyone in this room would even suggest that President Trump is doing anything for his own benefit," she said. Originally published on Latin Times © Latin Times. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Penny Stocks Attempt to Ride Crypto's Coattails
Education tech firm Classover Holdings (KIDZ) said in early May that it would sell $400 million worth of shares to buy solana. Its stock exploded higher. Shares of the thinly traded company, then with a market cap well shy of $50 million soared from $1.15 to more than $7 in just two sessions before settling back to the current $3.69. . Classover wasn't the first company to experience the crypto surge, and it won't be the last. A growing number of obscure, microcap and nanocap companies are embracing cryptocurrency — not as a business line or payment method, but as a headline-grabbing balance sheet item. They often follow the same script: an announcement of a shift in strategy to hold digital assets like bitcoin or solana, followed by a pop in the stock price. Today, GD Culture Group (GDC), a company with a market cap of around $30 million, announced plans to sell up to $300 million in shares to buy bitcoin and TrumpCoin (TRUMP), a meme token themed around U.S. President Donald Trump. The company declared that this purchase was part of its new 'crypto asset treasury strategy.' The stock rose 13% on the news. Also today, Amber International Holdings (AMBR), valued at just under $900 million, said it would allocate $100 million to a basket of cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, ethereum ETH, solana, XRP, Binance Coin BNB and sui SUI. All are attempting to mimic the original corporate crypto evangelist: Strategy (MSTR). In August 2020, the enterprise-software company pivoted to using bitcoin as its primary treasury reserve asset. Since then, its stock has soared more than 3,000%, fueled not by software sales or product innovation, but the price of bitcoin. Many retail investors now treat the stock as a proxy for bitcoin exposure. But while Strategy had a longstanding business and a consistent, transparent strategy — in addition to its chairman, Michael Saylor, emerging early as a bitcoin proponent — these newer companies appear to be leveraging the crypto hype machine with little track record or follow-through. Take Worksport, a Nasdaq-listed manufacturer of truck bed covers. Last year, the company announced plans to invest its cash reserves into bitcoin and XRP. Its stock, which had been sliding for years, jumped after the announcement. But the rally didn't last, and the stock has since returned to pre-announcement levels. The company said in April that it had made a six figure initial purchase. 'We are still bullish on our initial positions and have been holding. We will consider adding in the future as appropriate,' a spokesperson told CoinDesk at the time. The playbook seems straightforward: Find a buzzy crypto token, announce a purchase or strategic allocation, then ride the temporary surge in retail investor attention. In many cases, the amount the company plans to invest vastly exceeds its own market capitalization. That was true for Classover and GD Culture, both of which proposed multi-hundred-million-dollar allocations despite being worth a fraction of that. It's unclear whether these companies will actually make their proposed purchases or how they plan to raise the funds. But the market's reaction points to a pattern: Microcap firms are using crypto as a megaphone. Still, the tactic is proving effective in the short term. As long as the market rewards crypto-related headlines with stock rallies, small companies are likely to continue jumping on the bandwagon. Whether any of them become long-term crypto believers like Strategy remains to be seen. There are, however, some firms that appear to be taking the Strategy route more seriously — and seeing results. Japanese investment firm Metaplanet has steadily grown its bitcoin holdings to 6,796 since launching its Bitcoin Treasury Operations in April 2024, positioning itself as one of the more committed corporate holders in Asia. Similarly, U.S.-based medical device company Semler Scientific has been buying bitcoin consistently since adopting it as a reserve asset. It now holds 3,634 BTC on its balance sheet, reflecting a strategy that mirrors MicroStrategy's playbook rather than simply borrowing its headlines. Disclaimer: Parts of this article were generated with the assistance from AI tools and reviewed by our editorial team to ensure accuracy and adherence to our standards. For more information, see CoinDesk's full AI Policy.
Wall Street Journal
12-05-2025
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
The Trump Family Crypto Business
President Trump likes flying close to the sun regarding his family business, and the flight is closer than ever in his second term. Is no one advising Mr. Trump that his family's crypto plans are inviting trouble? Mr. Trump said last month that he'll host a dinner with the top 220 holders of his $TRUMP meme coin at his Washington, D.C.-area golf club on May 22. Step right up and invest in the Trump crypto enterprise for a chance to rub elbows with the leader of the free world. The President says all of this is above board. But it nonetheless raises the appearance of a conflict of interest in selling access to the President. The Trump Organization and affiliates hold 80% of $TRUMP coin tokens, which are subject to a three-year unlocking period. Any price appreciation caused by frenzied buying boosts the Trump family fortune, at least on paper. The Trump family businesses and their partners have benefited from more than $300 million in revenue generated by trading in the coin, according to the blockchain firm Chainalysis. A percentage of each trade is routed to crypto wallets linked to the coin's creators, similar to a transaction fee.
