The 220 winners of a cryptocurrency contest were told on Monday to look out for an email featuring “the most exclusive invitation in the world”. As a reward for spending immense amounts of money, in some cases millions of dollars, they had won the prize of attending a private gala with Donald Trump at his own Washington DC golf club later this month.
Awarding access to the president in exchange for investment in his crypto endeavor was Trump’s latest conflict of interest in a political career filled with, in the words of one of his most repeated catchphrases, “many such cases”. Real estate holdings, a media company, merchandising deals, fraud and most recently Qatar’s gift of a $400m plane are only some of the myriad of entanglements that government ethics watchdogs have warned about for a decade now.
Trump’s foray into cryptocurrency is a unique combination and escalation of these conflicts. It involves him leveraging his presidency for personal gain, potentially opening himself up to foreign influence and operating in an industry he has immense power to deregulate. It marries Trump’s unscrupulous business tendencies with an industry that is notorious for fraud, scams and a lack of transparency. It may also become the most lucrative business he’s ever been involved in.
Auctioning off influence
Trump’s shift from cryptocurrency skeptic to industry operator last year was already a concern for ethics and transparency advocates, who worried that, if elected, he could potentially push through crypto-friendly legislation that would benefit his personal financial interests. The auctioning off of direct access to the president through a crypto scheme intensified fears around political corruption and attempts to buy influence, especially given the opaque nature of the contest. The names of the winners are still unknown.
The rules of the Trump dinner contest stated that the top 220 buyers of $TRUMP, which were listed on a public leaderboard on the coin’s website, would receive an invitation to dine with the president. The top 20 on the leaderboard would gain even more personal access through a VIP reception featuring Trump. The leaderboard only disclosed contestants’ usernames and crypto wallet codes, no other identifying information. Winners could also write down any name they chose on the invite, according to the website’s frequently asked questions page, adding another layer of uncertainty to who will actually attend.
One of the primary worries from Democrats and ethics groups surrounding the contest is that it may allow foreign actors to purchase influence with Trump through investment in his cryptocurrency. Multiple analyses of the $TRUMP leaderboard have already found that a large percentage of the top buyers used foreign crypto exchanges that prohibit US users from trading on their platforms, suggesting that the winners may be foreign residents.
The wallet of the top $TRUMP buyer on the leaderboard, who owns more than $18m worth of the coin, has been linked to Hong Kong-based crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun. In 2023, the Securities and Exchange commission (SEC) charged Sun with fraud and other securities violations related to cryptocurrency trading. Since Trump took office, however, the SEC has paused that investigation. Sun also invested tens of millions of dollars into the Trump family’s other crypto ventures last year, and is an adviser to the World Liberty Financial company that Trump’s sons control.
The $TRUMP coin has also attracted foreign-tied investors beyond the contest. On Monday, a small technology company called GD Culture group that has a Chinese subsidiary company and has a TikTok e-commerce business announced that it had secured $300m in funding to buy up $TRUMP coins. Its purchase would coincide with Trump deciding how to handle TikTok’s potential ban or forced sale within the US.
The Trump family business isn’t real estate any more
The Trump family’s entrance into cryptocurrency is a relatively recent development, but since the start of last year, the Trumps have thrown themselves into the industry. Trump heavily courted crypto investors during the presidential election campaign, becoming the first candidate to accept crypto donations and promising to turn the US into the “crypto capital of the planet” at a Bitcoin conference in July. Later that year, Trump announced the creation of the World Liberty Financial crypto venture – a company that has raised around $550m and which the Trump family controls.
Trump’s reach into the crypto world deepened following his election victory, as he became involved in the creation of so-called memecoins that tend to fluctuate wildly through speculative trading. The $TRUMP cryptocurrency, along with a $MELANIA coin, launched in mid-January days before his inauguration.
