Experts raise conflict of interest concerns ahead of Trump crypto dinner

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When President Trump's caller tariffs started throttling freight traffic, the person of trucking logistics steadfast Freight Technologies utilized an unorthodox method to effort and get the president's attention.

The California-based steadfast purchased $2 cardinal worthy of Trump Coin, the signature cryptocurrency backed by Mr. Trump. The president and his household launched Trump Coin days earlier helium took bureau successful January. Anyone tin bargain the cryptocurrency. An analytics steadfast says Mr. Trump's household and different backers person collected much than $300 cardinal successful transaction fees truthful far.

Donald Quinby, Freight Technologies' main fiscal officer, told CBS News that the acquisition seemed similar "really the champion level for america to marque a splash, to marque immoderate noise."

"With the Trump meme token, this was conscionable an accidental to truly advocator for escaped and just trade," Quinby said. "I'm definite helium likes to travel who's purchasing his coins."

In April, the Trump household announced an "intimate backstage dinner" with the president astatine Mr. Trump's play people successful Virginia to reward the biggest buyers of Trump Coin, oregon $TRUMP. A leaderboard was created truthful buyers could vie with 1 another. Buyers yet spent $140 cardinal trying to unafraid access to the event, according to information analytics steadfast Inca Digital.

Some of the 220 starring buyers of $TRUMP received tickets to be the dinner. Mr. Trump volition besides big a smaller reception for the token's apical 25 holders. The guests are beneficiaries of a caller accidental to summation entree and imaginable power successful a metropolis with a agelong past of blending wealth and politics, experts said.

"This is truly unprecedented," said Jessica Tillipman, a George Washington University instrumentality professor. "This appears to beryllium a president that could beryllium perchance benefiting privately from thing that he's doing retired successful the open."

The White House pushed backmost hard connected the conception that the gala meal oregon the president's relation successful promoting the cryptocurrency crossed immoderate ethical lines. Administration officials said they had not approved an archetypal program suggesting apical buyers of the meme coin merchandise would person a White House tour.

"This is simply a idiosyncratic meal that the president is attending connected his idiosyncratic time," a White House authoritative told CBS News successful a statement. "The White House has perfectly thing to bash with it."

Trump rewards cryptocurrency buyers

Meme coins are a benignant of cryptocurrency whose worth is mostly driven by societal media buzz. They are not usually utilized successful transactions, and are known for erratic terms shifts. $TRUMP peaked astatine astir $75 soon aft motorboat and plummeted to nether $8 by April 2025, but soared successful worth aft the dinner with Mr. Trump was announced.

Among the attendees of Thursday's meal is Justin Sun, a Chinese-born crypto billionaire and the largest holder of Trump Coin. Sun has a nett worthy of $8.5 billion, according to Forbes, and is champion known for creating the Tron blockchain. He was besides the purchaser who paid $6.2 cardinal for a banana duct-taped to a wall by creator Maurizio Cattelan. Sun promptly ate the fruit.

Sun was sued for fraud by the Biden administration for allegedly "fraudulently manipulating the secondary market" and paying celebrities to beforehand a crypto token his institution created "without disclosing their compensation." Earlier this year, the Securities and Exchange Commission paused the suit arsenic portion of a broader Trump medication displacement toward easing crypto enforcement.

Key Speakers astatine Milken Institute Asia Summit successful Singapore

Sun besides said his steadfast has invested tens of millions successful the Trump-linked World Liberty Financial. But the anonymous quality of cryptocurrency allows Sun, and different overseas buyers similar him, to tribunal entree to powerfulness with small transparency.

"It's astir similar the cleanable benignant of opaque operation for immoderate benignant of overseas authorities or, you know, non-U.S. citizens who wanted to effort to question favor, curry favour with this peculiar administration," Tillipman said.

Experts rise concerns astir conflicts of interest

Tillipman compared the Trump family's foray into cryptocurrency to Hunter Biden's creation sales during his father's administration.

"The statement was that [purchasers of Hunter Biden's artwork] could usage it to influence" then-President Joe Biden, she said.

Like cryptocurrency, "a batch of these types of transactions are by quality opaque due to the fact that you don't cognize who's purchasing it. You don't cognize who the purchaser is," Tillipman said. She noted that successful effect, the Biden medication tried to region the president from the transactions by saying accusation astir the buyers and transactions would beryllium kept secret by the assemblage owner.

Nonetheless, she said "there were a batch of morganatic concerns associated with that peculiar dealing, arsenic determination was fearfulness that it could beryllium a backmost doorway to President Biden" done a household member.

"The quality present is conscionable the bid of magnitude and the engagement of the president himself," Tillipman said. Hunter Biden's creation netted him astir $1.5 cardinal by the extremity of his father's presidency, compared to the perchance acold much lucrative Trump household crypto business.

Mr. Trump has antecedently vowed connected societal media to "make definite the U.S. is the Crypto Capital of the World." He and his eldest sons are besides backing the crypto speech World Liberty Financial, and cryptocurrency makes up astir $2.9 cardinal of Mr. Trump's nett worth, according to a recent report.

Trump-linked crypto steadfast raises concerns astir imaginable conflicts of interest 03:22

On Monday, the Senate advanced the GENIUS Act, which would modulate stablecoins, a benignant of cryptocurrency that is linked to the worth of an plus similar the U.S. dollar oregon gold. They thin to person less terms fluctuations than meme coins, but let for the aforesaid opacity successful transactions. Some Democrats pushed backmost against the bill, citing Mr. Trump's crypto holdings and calling for anti-corruption rules.

"This is corruption retired successful the open," said Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, the apical Democrat connected the Senate Banking Committee, connected Thursday. "The GENIUS Act volition supercharge Donald Trump's quality to cod wealth from anybody who is seeking pardon, who wants tariff relief, who wants a transgression prosecution dropped."

The White House has dismissed criticisms that Mr. Trump's enactment for the crypto assemblage represents a struggle of interest.

"All of the president's assets are successful a unsighted trust, which is managed by his children, and I would argue, 1 of the galore reasons that the American radical reelected this president backmost to this bureau is due to the fact that helium was a precise palmy businessman earlier giving it up to publically service our country," property caput Karoline Leavitt said successful a briefing Thursday.

Quinby recovered that buying the meme coin didn't instantly effect successful entree to the president. Freight Technologies didn't marque it to the leaderboard, but they are prepared to support spending. The trucking institution reported successful nationalist securities filings that their concern successful $TRUMP could yet scope $20 million, if that's what it takes to get Mr. Trump's attention. Even if they suffer wealth connected the market, Quinby thinks it was worthy the risk.

"We thought the quality for america to get retired determination and advocator for the just and escaped trade, we thought it was worthy it," Quinby said.

Nancy Cordes

Nancy Cordes is CBS News' main White House analogous based successful Washington, D.C. Cordes has won galore awards for her reporting, including aggregate Emmys, Edward R. Murrow awards, and an Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award.

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