Source: NBC News
Original Title: Trump's crypto dinner cost over $1 million per seat on average
Compiled and Organized by BitpushNews
On Thursday local time, over 200 wealthy, mostly anonymous crypto enthusiasts will head to Washington to have dinner with US President Donald Trump.
According to data analysis from blockchain analytics company Nansen, the entry tickets were costly, with these "winners" spending between $55,000 and $37.7 million on Trump's official cryptocurrency token $TRUMP.
The dinner organizers determined seat eligibility based on the amount of $TRUMP tokens held at a specific time point. Nansen found that these "winners" collectively spent $394 million on Trump's official cryptocurrency, though some have sold part or all of their positions after the competition ended. Of course, spending varied greatly: the top seven spent over $10 million each, while the bottom 24 spent less than $100,000 each.
The research shows that one-third (67) of the "winners" spent over $1 million, with an average spending of $1,788,994.42 per "winner".
According to CoinMarketCap, which tracks cryptocurrency prices, $TRUMP's value fluctuates dramatically, similar to many meme coins, with Nansen tracking each "bidder's" spending on $TRUMP.
These 220 buyers were invited to a dinner at Trump's National Golf Club in Washington DC. Although the competition website claims Trump will attend as a guest and is not fundraising, it simultaneously notes that 80% of the $TRUMP token project is owned by two Trump-related companies—CIC Digital and Fight Fight Fight LLC.
This personal cryptocurrency and related bidding event, which ended last Monday, adds another example of Trump seemingly leveraging his presidential position for personal gain.
His business interests are held in a trust controlled by his son Donald Trump Jr., and he has intertwined many family businesses with his presidential activities, including hosting events at his social clubs (like this crypto dinner) and posting exclusive political statements on his social media app Truth Social.
Trump's cryptocurrency also generates revenue for his associated companies through trading. Each $TRUMP token transaction generates a transaction fee. Another crypto research company, Chainalysis, estimates that nearly $900,000 in transaction fees were generated in the first two days after the competition was announced.
Dan Weiner, Director of Elections and Government Projects at the Brennan Center for Justice, told NBC News that while most federal employees are legally prohibited from using their position for economic benefit, the president is largely exempt.
Dan Weiner stated: "The president is not subject to almost all broad conflict of interest prohibitions that apply to other federal government employees." He said, "Overall, even by the standards of the first Trump administration, when various people were doing business at the president's hotels, this goes far beyond that, but it doesn't necessarily mean he's breaking the law."
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement: "The president is working to secure better deals for the American people, not for himself. President Trump is acting solely in the best interests of the American public—which is why they largely elect him to this office again despite years of lies and false accusations from fake news media about him and his businesses."
Even the lowest-ranking winners' spending far exceeds the legal limit of $3,500 for direct donations to political candidates by US citizens.
On Tuesday, the highest spender was revealed to be crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun, who told Forbes in March that he had become a citizen of the Caribbean island nation of St. Kitts and Nevis. Sun was sued by the SEC but the case was paused during Trump's presidency.
Most other competition winners' identities remain undisclosed, known only by their aliases and crypto wallet addresses. However, according to independent crypto researcher Molly White's analysis, most attendees appear to be foreign nationals. Molly White tracked transactions of each winning wallet across different crypto exchanges and noticed that holders seem to use exchanges not legally permitted for US citizens.
Molly White told NBC News that out of 220 wallets associated with competition winners, 158 (72%) appear to be foreign wallets.
A New York Times investigation reported that the winners list includes crypto business representatives from Singapore and Australia.
Dan Weiner noted that the high proportion of non-US citizens among winners is noteworthy, as non-US citizens donating to US political candidates is typically illegal.
He said: "This is an incredible contrast. We have very strict laws prohibiting foreign nationals from making campaign contributions. So, the huge irony here is that many who bought this currency would not be eligible to donate $100 to a presidential campaign. We have a series of laws designed to prevent these things from happening, which is actually something both parties agree should be avoided. Yet, this is happening."
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