On Monday evening local time, U.S. President Trump hosted a cryptocurrency and AI innovators dinner at the Trump National Golf Club in Virginia, the latest event in a series of high-dollar fundraising activities to 'Make America Great Again (MAGA)'.
MAGA raised more than $400 million in 2023 and 2024, with three-quarters of the funds used to combat the Democrats. The entry standard for the fundraising dinner on Monday was $1.5 million per person.
On May 22, Trump will also attend a gathering consisting of Trump coin holders. The first 220 holders of Trump meme coins will be invited to dinner with Trump, which has also driven the price of Trump coins to rise rapidly in recent times.
Analysis firm Chainalysis stated that the creator of Trump coin received over $1.3 million in transaction fees within a week after the dinner announcement, while the price of the meme coin soared from about $9 to around $14. As of the time of writing, the trading price of the coin is about $11.
Corruption
The crypto industry is seen as one of the powerful donors during Trump's second term, which is directly related to Trump's promotion of cryptocurrency in the U.S. However, on the other hand, the increasingly deep ties between Trump and the crypto industry have also raised significant concerns.
The U.S. center-left watchdog group Accountable.US called the Trump coin ranking plan 'the most brazen presidential corruption fundraising scheme in American history' and believes it will open the door for wealthy donors to access the U.S. president, facilitating personal gain for the Trump family.
This concern also led to the unexpected failure of the stablecoin bill in the U.S. Congress last weekend. The Genius Act, advocated by the crypto industry, aims to establish a regulatory framework for stablecoins to help legitimize them. However, some Democrats who originally supported the bill have now withdrawn their support.
Not long ago, the Abu Dhabi government-backed venture capital MGX announced it would invest $2 billion in Binance using the stablecoin developed by World Liberty Financial, whose largest shareholder is the Trump family. Many suspect that the investors in World Liberty Financial are likely involved in quid pro quo with the Trump administration.
Nine Democratic U.S. senators condemned in a statement last Saturday that they could not support the current Genius Act and called for the U.S. to strengthen regulations on anti-money laundering, foreign issuers, and national security.
Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley bluntly stated that the transaction between World Liberty Financial and MGX is a form of selling influence and unprecedented corruption. Another Democratic Senator, Elizabeth Warren, emphasized that no lawmaker should support the new bill, as it would only make it easier for the Trump family to profit.
