The Trump memecoin, whose logo features the former president raising his fist, has increased in value by nearly 20 percent after an exclusive dinner was announced for May 22 at Trump's Virginia golf club for the token's largest holders, generating over $1 million in fees for the Trump family and partners since the event announcement.
The $TRUMP memecoin, which debuted in January 2025, has brought in more than $320 million in total according to blockchain analytics company Chainalysis, but by April 9, the token's value had decreased by more than 90 percent from its all-time high of over $75; since the dinner announcement, approximately 54,000 crypto wallets have purchased the token, raising serious ethical concerns among Democratic lawmakers. Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York introduced legislation on May 6, 2025, that would bar senior executive branch officials, including the president, from offering or endorsing cryptocurrencies, with Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia calling it gobsmacking that the sitting president appears to be selling personal cryptocurrency while in office, granting access to people who buy it, and thereby enriching his business and his family.
Democrats voted down a procedural motion in the Senate on May 8 by a margin of 49-48 that would have allowed consideration of landmark Republican-led cryptocurrency legislation, the GENIUS Act, which would create the first U.S. regulatory framework for digital tokens known as stablecoins that are pegged to the dollar. Senator Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, the lead sponsor of the bill, stated that rejecting the proposal would kill the crypto industry in America, while Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts argued the bill would supercharge Donald Trump's corruption, put national security at risk, undercut consumer protection, and run a substantial risk of eventually blowing up the U.S. economy; Virginia Canter, Anticorruption and Ethics Chief Counsel and Director at Democracy Defenders Action, emphasized that it is critical to prevent public officials like the President and members of Congress from offering volatile and novel assets that create an unacceptable conflict of interest risk.
Sources:
1.
Trump’s $TRUMP memecoin surged nearly 20% before a private dinner invitation — raising over $320M and drawing bipartisan criticism
2.
3.
