Latest news with #WorldLiberty
Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump Memecoin Wallet Spurs Divide Among Family's Crypto Camps
(Bloomberg) — There appears to be a divide among the various crypto-entities affiliated with President Donald Trump. Where the Wild Children's Museums Are Billionaire Steve Cohen Wants NY to Expand Taxpayer-Backed Ferry At London's New Design Museum, Visitors Get Hands-On Access The Global Struggle to Build Safer Cars LA City Council Passes Budget That Trims Police, Fire Spending The NFT marketplace Magic Eden said Tuesday that it's partnering with the team behind Trump's memecoin and other ventures to offer a Trump-branded digital wallet and trading application. After reports of the memecoin wallet partnership were published, Donald Trump Jr. said in a posting on X that the Trump Organization had 'zero involvement' in the product and that the family's World Liberty Financial crypto project will be launching its own wallet soon. A spokesperson for Magic Eden told Bloomberg News that the firm is working on the app, but couldn't share a launch date yet. A representative for which is run by long-time Trump collaborator Bill Zanker, didn't immediately return a request for comment. Magic Eden has worked with Zanker on his Trump NFT collections. Available at the app will facilitate trading in the Trump memecoin as well as other cryptocurrencies on major blockchains, and will let users self custody coins and manage their digital assets. The wallet partnership is the latest of several crypto ventures involving the president, his family or associates that have generated concern about potential conflicts of interest. Last month, Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut accused World Liberty of reaping 'substantial financial benefits for its founders and the Trump family.' World Liberty dismissed the allegations. Three members of the Magic Eden team, including its Chief Executive Officer Jack Lau, attended the recent dinner with Trump and holders of his memecoins that inflamed the controversy about the president's crypto ties. The Trump memecoin was issued a few days before Trump's inauguration, and its market capitalization peaked at nearly $15 billion before crashing; it currently stands at $2.31 billion, according to crypto tracker The coin's issuer is pushing for its use in e-commerce and other applications as a way to increase its user base and usefulness. Last year, Magic Eden expanded beyond NFTs, launching its first mobile wallet app allowing for trading of NFTs as well as swapping cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ether and Solana. Then earlier this year, Magic Eden bought Slingshot Finance, a fast-growing mobile-first crypto trading app, competing with centralized crypto exchanges. Users who sign up for a waiting list for the app are being offered prizes in Trump memecoin, according to the site. Entrants will receive referral links, which they will be able to share with others, and successful referrals could result in winnings of the memecoin. —With assistance from Nathaniel Popper. YouTube Is Swallowing TV Whole, and It's Coming for the Sitcom Millions of Americans Are Obsessed With This Japanese Barbecue Sauce Mark Zuckerberg Loves MAGA Now. Will MAGA Ever Love Him Back? Trump Considers Deporting Migrants to Rwanda After the UK Decides Not To Cuts to US Aid Imperil the World's Largest HIV Treatment Program ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
The Age
7 days ago
- Business
- The Age
Which conflicts of interest? Trump doubles down on crypto
Trump's plunge into crypto – assets that he once described as a 'scam' – isn't without controversy, even from within the crypto community itself, which backed him in the election with more than $US100 million of donations. Some of those crypto billionaires are now concerned that the controversies surrounding Trump's holdings will rebound on the industry, just as Trump's backing was about to bring crypto into the mainstream of the US financial system. Loading There are obvious conflicts of interest in a president who is ultimately responsible for regulating the sector - and who in March signed an executive order to create a national strategic reserve of bitcoin and other crypto assets - being so deeply invested in the sector. On some assessments, nearly 40 per cent of his net worth (and rising) is now tied up in crypto. What hasn't dispelled the concerns is that Trump is behaving in a most unpresidential fashion, embracing the conflicts. He has been spruiking his meme coin on social media – 'I LOVE $TRUMP – SO COOL!!! The Greatest of them all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!' – promoting the sector and loosening its regulation even as he has become more deeply engaged within it. More to the point, there have been dealings in his crypto assets that have raised more than a few eyebrows and caused a backlash within Congress. At a private dinner and tour of the White House last week for a select few guests who had won invitations by becoming one of the top 220 holders of $TRUMP coins was a Chinese crypto billionaire, Justin Sun. Loading Sun had been sued by the US Securities and Exchange Commission during the Biden administration for allegedly illegally distributing crypto assets and inflating their value. He was an early investor in World Liberty's tokens last year, investing $US30 million in November and following that up with a subsequent investment of another $US45 million. He's now an adviser to World Liberty. After Trump regained office, the SEC asked a judge to put the case on hold. More broadly, the US Justice Department, under the Trump administration, has shut down its national cryptocurrency enforcement team and declared that it's not a digital assets regulator, criticising the Biden administration for a 'reckless strategy of regulation by prosecution.' It has credited a Trump executive order for the shift in approach. There's another controversy surrounding World Liberty. This month, a state-backed Abu Dhabi investment fund, MGX, announced it would use its stablecoin to make a $US2 billion investment in the crypto exchange, Binance. That deal will provide credibility and generate significant revenue for World Liberty, which had promoted its stablecoin as an asset that should be attractive to sovereign wealth funds and other government institutions, but also raises some awkward issues. Binance pleaded guilty in 2023 to money laundering charges and agreed to pay a $US4.3 billion penalty. Its founder and former chief executive, Changpen Zhao, who owns 90 per cent of the platform, served a four-month jail term last year. He has said that he is seeking a pardon from Trump. The Trump family have also reportedly discussed acquiring an interest in Binance's US business. What a tangled web they weave! The conflicts in the Trump family's dealings in crypto have derailed what was a bi-partisan consensus on crypto regulation. Earlier this month, the so-called GENIUS Act, which would have provided a regulatory framework for stablecoins where none currently exists – a bill supported by the crypto sector – was voted down in the Senate because of Trump's perceived conflicts and the potential for crypto assets to be used as conduits for corruption of public officials. Trump's VIP dinner and tour for buyers of his meme coin may have played a role in the bill's rejection. Senate Democrats have proposed their own crypto legislation – the 'End Crypto Corruption Act' -- that would ban presidents, lawmakers and their families from issuing or endorsing crypto assets. Even if it passed, Trump could veto it, which would add another layer of conflict. Loading Crypto investors and entrepreneurs are uneasy with Trump's dealings because they fear that, on the verge of success after years of lobbying for their preferred legislative and regulatory models, the Trump family has jeopardised their goals with its pursuit of crypto schemes. Only Trump would see no conflict of interest in his role as president, who with executive orders and sponsorship (or vetoing) of legislation is shaping regulation of the sector in which a growing proportion of his net worth is invested in, or in his control of businesses that are touting for foreign government investment even as he wages trade wars around the world. He might claim to be at arms-length from the family's crypto dealings because he says his assets are in a trust managed by his eldest son Don Jr, but his repeated promotion of crypto and his meme coin in particular undermines his assertions.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump's meme coin dinner stirs controversy at pivotal moment for crypto world
President Trump hosted an exclusive dinner Thursday night for the 220 biggest buyers of his $TRUMP (TRUMP-OFFICIAL-USD) meme coin, an event that stirred controversy in the nation's capital during a pivotal moment for the crypto world. 'The past administration made your lives miserable,' Mr. Trump told the dinner guests, according to account from the New York Times. The Biden administration "persecuted crypto innovators, and we're bringing them back into the USA where they belong,' he added, according to another account from the Wall Street Journal. The highly publicized event at his private Virginia golf club was the source of widespread unease among Democrats, who highlighted their conflict of interest concerns, and even some GOP lawmakers. "This is my president that we're talking about, but I am willing to say that this gives me pause," Wyoming Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis said of the dinner in a NBC interview earlier this month. "There is a big 'For Sale' sign on the White House lawn,' Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) said at a press conference Thursday. "US policy for sale." Invitees to the gala won their invitations by participating in a form of auction that identified the 220 with the largest holdings of Trump's coin, based on their average holdings between April 23 and May 12. These investors spent an estimated $148 million on the $TRUMP coin to secure their seats at the dinner, with the 25 largest spending over $111 million, according to an analysis from crypto firm Inca Digital. An even more exclusive set of the 25 biggest holders were promised a "special tour' and "private VIP reception with the President,' according to the coin's website, which is owned by Fight Fight Fight LLC. That Delaware-registered organization and another Trump Organization affiliate called CIC Digital LLC own a combined 80% of the meme coin's tokens. A share of revenue earned from the coin's trading volume also goes to these Trump family affiliates. Between January and the end of April, more than $320 million in trading fees have flowed to wallets tied to the token's creator, according to an analysis from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis. That includes some $1.3 million between the dinner announcement and May 1. The attendees ranged from former NBA player Lamar Odom to crypto billionaire Justin Sun, who said he won first place in the dinner competition. "It's really nice to be here today with, like, everyone in crypto,' Sun in a video posted on X. Founder of the blockchain network Tron, the 34-year-old Sun already has at least one link to the president's affairs. He is known as the biggest backer of World Liberty Financial, a crypto business run by CEO Zach Witkoff, son of Steve Witkoff, the president's envoy to the Middle East. Sun invested $75 million into World Liberty and helped bootstrap the project's initial token launch by buying $30 million worth of the token (WLF). He's since appeared on stage at two separate conferences with World Liberty executives. 'Justin, you've been instrumental in our success, so thank you,' Witkoff told Sun while onstage at a Dubai conference earlier this month that also included the president's son Eric Trump. The SEC previously sued Sun and his crypto companies for alleged fraud in 2023, but the case was paused in February. Democrat lawmakers — including Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), and Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) — pointed to the dinner and Trump's other crypto ties as examples of what they view to be the president's corruption. 'Donald Trump's dinner is an orgy of corruption,' Warren said Thursday. 'That's what this is all about. We are here today to talk about exactly one topic: corruption, corruption in its ugliest form.' The White House has consistently maintained that there are no conflicts of interest, noting that Trump's assets are managed in a trust overseen by his children and he has no role in operations, and his press secretary repeated that point Thursday. "I have also stated previously from this podium that the president is abiding by all conflict of interest laws that are applicable to the president, and I think everybody, the American public believe it's absurd for anyone to insinuate that this president is profiting off of this," Trump press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. The Trump family has gone even deeper into crypto since the 2024 election. The president and first lady Melania Trump each have official meme coins and his namesake, Trump Media (DJT), also offers crypto ETFs through its financial services brand The president's son Eric is also co-founder of a bitcoin mining firm set to go public through an all-stock merger that's expected to close as early as the third quarter. World Liberty is also launching a stablecoin at a time when the Senate is considering legislation to regulate those digital assets. A vote on that bill could happen next week. 'Net, net, I think this administration has been great for crypto,' Galaxy Digital (GLXY) CEO Mike Novogratz told Yahoo Finance last Friday. As long as they don't break a law, the president and his family have a right to participate in crypto, Novogratz, an outspoken Democrat who has nonetheless been critical of the Biden administration's handling of crypto regulation, said. 'Do I wish we didn't have a Trump coin and Melania coin? Yeah, I do. But you know, we're going to live with it,' Novogratz added. David Hollerith is a senior reporter for Yahoo Finance covering banking, crypto, and other areas in finance. Click here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump hosting dinner for his top meme coin holders at pivotal moment for crypto world
President Trump will host an exclusive dinner Thursday night for the 220 biggest buyers of his $TRUMP (TRUMP-OFFICIAL-USD) memecoin, an event that is stirring controversy in the nation's capital during a pivotal moment for the crypto world. The highly publicized event at his private Virginia golf club is the source of widespread unease among Democrats, who are holding a press conference Thursday to highlight their conflict of interest concerns, and even some GOP lawmakers. "This is my president that we're talking about, but I am willing to say that this gives me pause," Wyoming Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis said of the dinner in a NBC interview earlier this month. Lummis has been a staunch supporter of both Trump and the Republican-led push to usher in more crypto-friendly regulation for the industry. Invitees to the gala won their invitations by participating in a form of auction that identified the 220 with the largest holdings of Trump's coin, based on their average holdings between April 23 and May 12. These investors spent an estimated $148 million on the $TRUMP coin to secure their seats at the dinner, with the 25 largest spending over $111 million, according to an analysis from crypto firm Inca Digital. An even more exclusive set of the 25 biggest holders will also get a "special tour' and "private VIP reception with the President,' according to the coin's website, which is owned by Fight Fight Fight LLC. That Delaware-registered organization and another Trump Organization affiliate called CIC Digital LLC own a combined 80% of the memecoin's tokens. A share of revenue earned from the coin's trading volume also goes to these Trump family affiliates. Between January and the end of April, more than $320 million in trading fees have flowed to wallets tied to the token's creator, according to an analysis from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis. That includes some $1.3 million between the dinner announcement and May 1. Some crypto investors have publicly shared that they are attending, including crypto billionaire Justin Sun, who said he won first place in the dinner competition. Founder of the blockchain network Tron, the 34-year-old Sun already has at least one link to the president's affairs. He is known as the biggest backer of World Liberty Financial, a crypto business run by CEO Zach Witkoff, son of Steve Witkoff, the president's envoy to the Middle East. Sun invested $75 million into World Liberty and helped bootstrap the project's initial token launch by buying $30 million worth of the token (WLF). He's since appeared on stage at two separate conferences with World Liberty executives. 'Justin, you've been instrumental in our success, so thank you,' Witkoff told Sun while onstage at a Dubai conference earlier this month that also included the president's son Eric Trump. The SEC previously sued Sun and his crypto companies for alleged fraud in 2023, but the case was paused in February. Democrat lawmakers — including Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), and Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) — are pointing to the dinner and Trump's other crypto ties as examples of what they view to be the president's corruption. 'Through his crypto businesses, Trump has turned the office of the presidency into a personal money-making machine,' Waters said at a Democrat House hearing that focused on the president and his family's crypto ventures. In late April, while speaking during a town hall in his home state of Georgia, another Democrat senator, said he "strongly" supported impeachment proceedings in light of Trump's memecoin dinner. The White House has consistently maintained that there are no conflicts of interest, noting that Trump's assets are managed in a trust overseen by his children and he has no role in operations, and his press secretary repeated that point Thursday. "I have also stated previously from this podium that the president is abiding by all conflict of interest laws that are applicable to the president, and I think everybody, the American public believe it's absurd for anyone to insinuate that this president is profiting off of this," Trump press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. The Trump family has gone even deeper into crypto since the 2024 election. The president and first lady Melania Trump each have official meme coins and his namesake, Trump Media (DJT), also offers crypto ETFs through its financial services brand The president's son Eric is also co-founder of a bitcoin mining firm set to go public through an all-stock merger that's expected to close as early as the third quarter. World Liberty is also launching a stablecoin at a time when the Senate is considering legislation to regulate those digital assets. A vote on that bill could happen next week. 'Net, net, I think this administration has been great for crypto,' Galaxy Digital (GLXY) CEO Mike Novogratz told Yahoo Finance last Friday. As long as they don't break a law, the president and his family have a right to participate in crypto, Novogratz, an outspoken Democrat who has nonetheless been critical of the Biden administration's handling of crypto regulation, said. 'Do I wish we didn't have a Trump coin and Melania coin? Yeah, I do. But you know, we're going to live with it,' Novogratz added. David Hollerith is a senior reporter for Yahoo Finance covering banking, crypto, and other areas in finance. Click here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices Sign in to access your portfolio
Boston Globe
22-05-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
The crypto industry saw Trump as a champion. Some now fear he's putting personal profits first.
Advertisement After feeling unfairly targeted by the Biden administration, the industry has quickly become a dominant political force, donating huge sums to help Trump and crypto-friendly lawmakers. But that's also served to tether the industry — sometimes uncomfortably — to a president who is using crypto as a platform to make money for his brand in unprecedented ways. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up 'It's distasteful and an unnecessary distraction,' said Nic Carter, a Trump supporter and partner at the crypto investment firm Castle Island Ventures, who said the president is 'hugging us to death' with his private crypto businesses. 'We would much rather that he passes common-sense legislation and leave it at that.' Concerns about Trump's crypto ventures predate Inauguration Day At the swanky Crypto Ball held down the street from the White House three days before he took office on Jan. 20, Trump announced the creation of the meme coin $TRUMP as a way for his supporters to 'have fun.' Advertisement Meme coins are the crypto sector's black sheep. They are often created as a joke, with no real utility and prone to extremely wild price swings that tend to enrich a small group of insiders at the expense of less sophisticated investors. The president's meme coin is different, however, and has a clear utility: access to Trump. The top 25 investors of $TRUMP are set to attend a private reception with the president Thursday, with the top four getting $100,000 crypto-themed and Trump-branded watches. Trump's meme coin saw an initial spike in value, followed by a steep drop. The price saw a significant increase after the dinner contest was announced. Its creators, which include an entity controlled by the Trump Organization, have made hundreds of millions of dollars by collecting fees on trades. First lady Melania Trump has her own meme coin, and Trump's sons, Eric and Don Jr. — who are running the Trump Organization while their father is president — announced they are partnering with an existing firm to create a crypto mining company. The Trump family also holds about a 60% stake in World Liberty Financial, a crypto project that provides yet another avenue where investors are buying in and enriching the president's relatives. World Liberty has launched its own stablecoin, USD1. The project got a boost recently when World Liberty announced an investment fund in the United Arab Emirates would be using $2 billion worth of USD1 to purchase a stake in Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange. Advertisement A rapidly growing form of crypto, stablecoins have values pegged to fixed assets like the U.S. dollar. Issuers profit by collecting the interest on the Treasury bonds and other assets used to back the stablecoins. Crypto is now one of the most significant sources of the Trump family's wealth. 'He's becoming a salesman-in-chief,' said James Thurber, an American University professor emeritus who has long studied and taught about corruption around the world. 'It allows for foreign influence easily. It allows for crypto lobbying going on at this dinner, and other ways. It allows for huge conflicts of interest.' How Trump changed his mind on crypto 'I'm a big crypto fan,' Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One during last week's trip to the Middle East. 'I've been that from the beginning, right from the campaign.' That wasn't always true. During his first term, Trump posted in July 2019 that cryptocurrencies were 'not money' and had value that was 'highly volatile and based on thin air.' 'Unregulated Crypto Assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade,' he added then. Even after leaving office in 2021, Trump told Fox Business Network that bitcoin, the world's most popular cryptocurrency, 'seems like a scam.' Trump began to shift during a crypto event at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida in May 2024, receiving assurances that industry backers would spend lavishly to get him reelected. Another major milestone came last June, when Trump attended a high-dollar fundraiser at the San Francisco home of David Sacks. He further warmed to the industry weeks later, when Trump met at Mar-a-Lago with bitcoin miners. The following month, he addressed a major crypto conference in Nashville, promising to make the U.S. the 'crypto capital of the planet.' Advertisement Those close to Trump, including his sons and billionaire Elon Musk, helped further push his embrace of the industry. Sacks is now the Trump administration's crypto czar, and many Cabinet members — including Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — have long been enthusiastic crypto boosters. 'I don't have faith in the dollar,' Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a 2023 interview. 'I'm bullish on bitcoin.' Trump + crypto: A political marriage of convenience Many top crypto backers were naturally wary of traditional politics, but gravitated toward Trump last year. They bristled at Democratic President Joe Biden 's Securities and Exchange Commission aggressively bringing civil suits against several major crypto companies. Since Trump took office, many such cases have been dropped or paused, including one alleging that Justin Sun, a China-born crypto entrepreneur, and his company engaged in market manipulation and paid celebrities for undisclosed promotions. Sun, who once paid $6.2 million for a piece of art involving a banana taped to a wall, and then ate the banana, helped the Trumps start World Liberty Financial with an early $75 million investment. Sun has disclosed on social media that he is the biggest holder of $TRUMP meme coins and is attending Thursday's dinner. 'I'm excited to connect with everyone, talk crypto, and discuss the future of our industry,' Sun said. Are Trump family profits hurting other crypto investors? Trump has signed executive orders promoting the industry, including calls to create a government bitcoin reserve. In March, Trump convened the first cryptocurrency summit at the White House. But some of the industry's biggest names, often brash and outspoken, have kept mostly mum on Trump's meme coins and other projects. 'It's not my place to really comment on President Trump's activity,' Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said at a recent public event. Advertisement Meanwhile, a top legislative priority for crypto-backers, a bill clarifying how digital assets are to be regulated, has advanced in the Senate. But some Democrats have tried to stall other pro-crypto legislation over the president's personal dealings. 'Never in American history has a sitting president so blatantly violated the ethics laws,' Democratic Rep. Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts said during a contentious House hearing earlier this month. The White House referred questions about dinner attendees to the Trump Organization, which didn't provide a list of who is coming. 'The President is working to secure GOOD deals for the American people, not for himself,' White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement. In addition to Sun, however, some attendees have publicized qualifying for the dinner. Another will be Sheldon Xia, the founder of a cryptocurrency exchange called BitMart that's registered in the Cayman Islands. 'Proud to support President Trump's pro-crypto vision.' Xia wrote in both English and Chinese on social media. Thurber, the expert on government and ethics, said Trump's 'personal attention to crypto at this dinner helps the crypto industry.' 'But also it's risky,' he said, 'because they could all lose a lot of money.'
