Dressed in ball gowns, tuxedos and “Make Bitcoin Great Again” baseball caps, a crowd of some of the country’s most powerful cryptocurrency executives gathered a few blocks from the White House for a lavish party three days before President Trump’s inauguration, toasting an incoming administration that had vowed to promote the industry’s interests, The New York Times reported.
But crypto millionaires and billionaires were caught off guard by what happened next.
At 9 p.m., on Jan. 17, with the festivities in flushing, Mr. Trump announced on social media that he was launching a new cryptocurrency — a so-called meme coin known simply as $Trump.
The surprise disclosure raised fresh ethics and legal concerns about the ways in which Mr. Trump continues to cash in on his power and frame, in this case by marketing digital asset in an inherently volatile and speculative market to millions of his followers.
And it set off a wave criticism from inside the industry that he says he wants to champion.
CNBC reported: Crypto executives, companies and investors are getting an early return on their investment in Donald Trump.
After pouring tens of millions of dollars into Trump’s 2024 campaign for president, the crypto industry has been paid back handsomely during his first week in the White House.
“I don’t think they could have imagined a better outcome than they just got in the past 48 hours,” Benchmark’s Bill Gurley, known for an early bet on Uber, told CNBC’s “Closing Bell” on Friday. Gurley said that while tech’s newfound influence in Washington may be harmful to some parts of the startup world, “it’s obviously good for crypto.”
The industry’s support for Trump was built on the Republican leader’s promise to stop the government crackdown on crypto and implement regulators favorable to those who wanted to develop new types of payment technologies while easing restrictions on investments in cryptocurrencies.
Trump called on members of the Treasury, the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to join forces in a working group to evaluate the potential of stockpiling cryptocurrencies seized by the government.
The order outlined other key priorities, such as protecting bitcoin miners and software developers from what the president called “persecution,” and promoting U.S. dollar-pegged stable coins, while banning a digital dollar from the Federal Reserve.
AlterNet reported: Just before his January 20 inauguration, President Donald Trump launched a cryptocurrency named after himself, which quickly accumulated a market cap of approximately $32 billion. One leading figure in the crypto word is now arguing this could usher in an era of corruption in the future.
The Washington Post reported Saturday that crypto traders were divided about the release of the president’s “meme coin,” dubbed $TRUMP. First Lady Melania Trump also launched her $MELANIA cryptocurrency ahead of the inauguration, which topped $6 billion within hours of its release.
In my opinion, I think people who are interested in cryptocurrency might consider purchasing some of it, especially those who are big fans of Trump.