Early Monday morning, the head of the free world had a message to transmit. It is not on the economic disorders of the prices, one of the skirmishes playing abroad, or a surprise upheaval in its White House staff. Instead, President Donald Trump turned to Social truth Post on something called the “Gala $ Trump dinner”, with a link to gettrumpmemes.com.
A visit to the website depicts a slightly more complete image: buy as many tokens as possible from Trump's personal cryptocurrency, $ Trump, and you could be invited to a private event later this month at the Trump National Golf Club outside of Washington, DC there, you will have the unique opportunity to meet the president and “discover the future of Crypto.” The gala is very similar to a barely veiled gambit to increase the price of $ Trump, a so-called memecoin which mainly belongs to entities supported by Trump. Surround the greatest amount of money to the President of the United States, and you could save a little time with the great man.
In 2021 Trump described Bitcoin “scam. “Now he seems to understand exactly what crypto can do for him personally: namely, to make Trump and his family very, very rich. BloombergThe Trump family has already put in a bank almost $ 1 billion of these projects. Long before going down the Golden Escalator to Trump Tower a decade ago, Trump's public image was rooted in his commercial prowess. But compared to his real estate projects or The apprenticeCrypto already becomes his most successful business to date.
Trump might not be president at all if it was not for the crypto. During the 2024 campaign, the industry was among the greatest donors in its campaign. This money has flowed both cryptographic societies and individual donors, such as Bitcoin Tyler billionaires and Cameron Winklevoss. (The identical twins gave $ 1 million each in Bitcoin in the Trump campaign, but had to be reimbursed because they exceeds The legal donation limit.) In exchange, Trump promised the industry in danger a new start after four years of repression of cryptography sanctioned by Biden. Last summer, as an honorary speaker of the annual Bitcoin conference, Trump promised that if he was elected, he would make America the “cryptographic capital of the planet”. The cryptography industry is now worth it. Consider the Crypto Ripple company, which spent four years facing Biden regulators in federal audience rooms and donated $ 4.9 million to the Trump inauguration fund. The new administration yesterday dcorded the case of government, as the White House has effectively ordering the application of cryptography rules.
Trump still hits cryptographic magnates for money. On Monday, he attended a super pac's “Crypto and AI innovatorsThe fundraising, for which donors have spent $ 1.5 million to enter the door. But for Trump, Crypto quickly became more than soliciting campaign donations and rewarding supporters. managed by his sons Eric and Don Jr. and some young entrepreneurs. (One previously directed a company called Hotter Girls date, while the other is the son of Steve Witkoff, a longtime ally of Trump serving as a special envoy in the Middle East.) Then, in January, just before the day of the inauguration, he launched $ Trump. Like all messes, it has no underlying commercial fundamentals or links to real assets – the aim is to quickly take advantage of a viral trend, combining value from practically nothing. This proved to be extremely lucrative almost immediately: $ Trump initially increased in value before crashing, at one point, representing almost 90% of the president's net value. (There is also an official piece of Melania, if it's no longer your thing.)
With Crypto, Trump found an effective urge to transmute the weight and power of the highest office of the nation into cold and hard cash. Last week, World Liberty Financial announced that its cryptocurrency, USD1, would facilitate the participation of $ 2 billion in an Abu Dhabi investment company in the Binance Crypto Exchange. Eric and Don Jr. are also on the cryptographic press circuit, with plans to speak at the Bitcoin 2025 conference later this month. Some Trump's decisions as president, such as the creation of a “Bitcoin Strategic Reserve”, can also work to inflate its cryptographic wealth, in the sense that a rising tide raises all boats; The promotion of the crypto as part of the national interest cannot support the idea that these documents deserve to be purchased.
The crypto is a conduit for the personal interest which defined the entire Trump's political career – a MO who has constantly blurred the border between public and private, country and party. For the most part, Trump was particularly good for those who line his pockets, rewarding them with all kinds of preferential treatments.
During his first mandate, Trump enriched the old -fashioned – by means of merchandise and real estate and real estate investment Around the world. But with Crypto, all of this was paralyzed with Trump's second term. In crypto, the money is fast, loose and digital native – properties that have returned personal transactions in the industry even more exasperating and potentially more vulnerable to external grip. Someone looking to access Trump may have to pay thousands of dollars per night for a room in Mar-A-Lago for a fortuitous meeting with the president on the golf course. Now the door is open to the influence of almost anyone in the world with an internet connection.
The White House insists that there is nothing to see here. “His assets are in trust managed by her children, and there are no conflicts of interest,” said assistant press secretary Anna Kelly in a statement sent by email. Keeping this wealth in a trust can do very little to break the link between Trump and its wealth, however, according to the exact conditions of the arrangement. Even when Eric and Don Jr. serve as a buffer, the money remains in the family.
The anonymous nature of crypto poses unique challenges to understand exactly what is happening – transactions on a blockchain are generally published using long chain of numbers called addresses, rather than verified by legal name. According to all accounts, interacting with $ Trump is channeling money directly in the president's pockets, but the campaign finance laws that have caused the reimbursement of exorbitant Winklevosses donations do not apply here. Nothing stops, let's say, agents of foreign powers or technological billionaires looking for favorable pricing treatment, of the use of $ Trump to access the highest government levels. The legislators on both sides of the aisle begin to obtain it: yesterday, Three GOP senators joined the Democrats To block a major Crypto bill which would be used to benefit from World Liberty Financial.
Ironically, the grip of Crypto Trump pumps money in the industry while damaging it simultaneously. Since the fall of Sam Bankman fried in 2022, the image of crypto as a paradise for scams and pirates has been extinguished. At a time when the cryptography industry is trying to go back to respectability and legitimation, Trump took advantage of each opportunity to cement it in the minds of the Americans as nothing more than a vehicle to channel money directly to him. In crypto, “there are many people who have ethics and who have worked for years to build the system because they believe that what they are doing is in the public interest,” said Angela Walch, an crypto expert and a former law professor. “And what is done is that the whole message that comes from extreme cryptography criticism:” It is only a tool for fat “and makes it look like that.”
By reaching their wagon to Trump, industry leaders have triggered a force that they cannot control. As the president cashed the crypto, the calculation has changed. Like the Hot-Dogs in Costco“Being the president” is the leader of losses; The crypto pays invoices.
