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Inside Trump’s Lavish Dinner For Top Memecoin Investors

Yigit Taha OZTURK — Fri, 23 May 2025 14:00:33 +0000

Donald Trump has once again stirred headlines, this time not through politics alone, but by embracing crypto. The former U.S. President hosted a private dinner for his top memecoin holders—an event that drew both elite guests and fiery opposition outside.

TRUMP Token Whales Dine in Style

Held at the Trump National Golf Club in Virginia, the dinner welcomed the 220 largest holders of the TRUMP token. Photos shared online revealed tables decorated with “Fight Fight Fight” branding and a high-end menu featuring organic field greens, filet mignon, pan-seared halibut, and lava cake. Attendees also received gift bags containing black hats.

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Notable figures included Tron CEO Justin Sun, Magic Eden’s Jack Lu, and BitMart CEO Sheldon Xia. Sun—reportedly the biggest buyer of the TRUMP memecoin—was brought onstage and gifted a Trump-branded gold watch worth $100,000, in a ceremony that highlighted his close ties to Trump.

Protests Erupt Over Crypto Influence

As the event unfolded inside, around 100 protesters gathered outside chanting slogans such as “Stop Trump’s Crypto Corruption” and “Democracy Is Not For Sale.” Many accused Trump of monetizing his political influence through crypto-related ventures.

Trump-linked entities are estimated to have earned around $100 million in trading fees from the TRUMP token, which launched just two days before his presidential inauguration. Additionally, Trump Media recently signed a non-binding agreement with Crypto.com to roll out “Made in America” exchange-traded products.

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Crypto Advocates Fight SEC’s Investor Tracking Database

Tanju Akbıyık — Sat, 24 Aug 2024 17:30:55 +0000

The DeFi Education Fund and the Blockchain Association have filed an amicus brief in a lawsuit filed by two individuals and the New Civil Liberties Alliance (NCLA) against the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), its chairman Gary Gensler, and the Consolidated Audit Trail (CAT). The complaint does not mention cryptocurrency or blockchain, but the organizations argue that the CAT could have a profound negative impact on crypto users.

The CAT is a database that was first proposed in 2010 and launched in April. According to its official website, the CAT tracks orders throughout their lifecycle and identifies the broker-dealer who processes them, allowing regulators to effectively track activity in U.S. markets in Eligible Securities.

SEC Having Issues With Crypto Market

The SEC proposed the 203-page rule that created the CAT in 2010 and passed it in 2012. The database is funded by its participants — the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and 26 national securities exchanges. The CAT quickly sparked concerns about privacy and government overreach. The NCLA said:

“This class action complaint challenges the SEC’s shocking power grab to impose dystopian surveillance, unprovoked seizures, and actual or potential searches on millions of American investors.”

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The NCLA filed its lawsuit in April. The case attracted more than 50 amicus curiae (friend-of-the-court) briefs. The DeFi Education Fund and the Blockchain Association said in their briefs that the database discloses more information about blockchain investors than it was designed to due to the transparent nature of public blockchains. They explained:

“CAT […] combines personally identifiable information with wallet addresses that reveal blockchain-based user transactions. Therefore, anyone with access to CAT can not only see a person’s securities transactions, […] but also all of that person’s past, present, and future blockchain transactions.”

CAT has also been criticized as a security risk. It acts as a “honeypot” for hackers and is freely accessible by the SEC and its staff. However, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association trade group has stated that due to the lack of public access to the database, the SEC would be violating the Administrative Procedure Act if it used the database for rulemaking, since all data used for that purpose must be publicly available.

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Coinbase Accuses US SEC and FDIC of Unfairly Blocking Document Requests

Tanju Akbıyık — Thu, 27 Jun 2024 22:30:16 +0000

Coinbase is heading back to court against U.S. regulators and wrangling over Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests. A US crypto exchange is trying to obtain documents showing how the initial decisions were made at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on which digital tokens would be considered securities.

The company’s subcontractor, History Associates, is also suing the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) over letters sent to financial firms urging them to halt crypto activities.

History Associates Inc., on behalf of Coinbase, stated that documents that should have been accessible under FOIA were wrongfully denied by the SEC and FDIC. Requesting written communications from the SEC regarding three closed cases in which the agency considers digital assets as securities, Coinbase is asking the FDIC for “cease and desist letters” from the agency’s inspector advising financial firms to cease their crypto activities.

Coinbase‘s legal challenge comes on the heels of the SEC saying it has closed its review of “Ethereum 2.0” as a potential security, so it may be harder for the regulatory agency to deny document requests.

The exchange is also seeking documents related to two previously resolved digital asset cases. One involves Zachary Coburn, who founded the EtherDelta platform, which the SEC ruled were “digital asset securities” in 2018, and the other involves Enigma MPC, which sold $45 million worth of ENG tokens in 2017, which the SEC ruled were unregistered securities.

“We requested documents related to closed investigations to shed light on how the SEC views its new, sweeping (and illegal) authority,” Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal said in a statement on X (formerly Twitter). “One of these investigations focused on ETH, which only recently closed and the SEC publicly declared not a security in 2018. Other investigations have been closed for years. But the SEC blocked our requests.” The SEC denied requests for information about long-closed cases and the more recent ETH matter under FOIA “exception 7A” – protection from uncovering matters that could undermine law enforcement efforts. Spokespeople for the SEC and FDIC declined to comment on the cases.

History Associates’ lawsuit against the FDIC argues that letters to firms asking them to cease digital asset business are “part of an effort by the FDIC and other financial regulators to pressure financial institutions to cut off digital asset firms from the banking system.”

These lawsuits join other legal clashes between Coinbase and U.S. financial regulators. The current case with the SEC over allegations that the agency operates an illegal exchange that trades unregistered securities is one of the most high-profile court battles that could determine the crypto industry’s future in the United States. Coinbase also sued the SEC, seeking a court order that would force the regulator to issue guidance defining digital asset securities.

Coinbase has previously funded lawsuits against the US government. In 2022, it backed a group of investors and developers — including some of its employees — who sued the U.S. Treasury Department over sanctions against the Tornado Cash crypto mixer. That lawsuit failed in federal court, but the plaintiffs appealed.

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