Here’s what you need to know about Trump’s same money dinner tonight: NPR

President Trump is organizing an exclusive dinner tonight in his national Trump Golf Club near Washington, DC, with a unique guest list: 220 of the biggest investors in his play $ Trump, whose current or previous assets of cryptocurrency have earned them a seat at the table.

It is an event where the troubled world of cryptocurrencies collided with questions of presidential ethics.

Here are three key elements to know about the president’s memes play, Thursday’s dinner and what it could mean.

What is $ Trump?

A few days before the inauguration, the president launched $ Trumpwhich has reached a market capitalization of $ 27 billion in a few hours – valuing the president’s personal participation in more than $ 20 billion. Its price culminated at more than $ 74 before hunting. Since he reached a hollow in April, he recovered some of his losses, which made it a large part of it last month As the $ Trump dinner was excited.

In a bitcoin world editorial Regarding the same corner dinner, the publication said that the calendar of the last peak suggests that “access to a high -level political figure and political event has acted as a powerful catalyst”.

The coins are cryptocurrencies inspired by internet memes or viral trends – or in this case, an American president. They are generally created for entertainment or speculative purposes and are mainly motivated by the overhaul. As speculation, they tend to enrich the first investors who are able to empty their parts before their value is blocking.

Like Bitcoin, the pieces even, sometimes called tokens even, use blockchain technology, but generally lack a clear use case and an underlying value.

“Parts even are not investments. I would not even call them speculative. They are more risky than the dog track,” according to Michael Lee, the founder of Michael Lee Strategy, a wealth planning and investment management company.

Lee describes himself as “a complete supporter of Red Blood Trump” and calls the original Bitcoin “Digital Gold” cryptocurrency. But as an investor, he says he wouldn’t touch $ Trump.

“It is not even a risk in the casino,” he said. “In a casino, at least there is a chance.”

CIC Digital LLC, an affiliate of the Trump organization, and Fight Fight Fight LLC collectively have about 80% of the total offer of a billion Trump tokens $, according to Gettrumpmemes.comThe official website.

Who attended the $ Trump dinner?

Of the 220 investors who plan to attend, all except little have been identified only by their online handles “Crypto Wallet Address”.

“There have been a lot of speculation about who could hold them and who could not do it”, ” Politico Journalist Declan Harty recently told NPR recently. “But of those people who talk about their plans to attend dinner, they are mainly cryptocurrency believers and really hoping to obtain an audience with the president.”

Like the cryptocurrency of Chinese origin Justin Sun, the founder of the operating platform based on the Tron Blockchain. Sun Announced on X That he is the best holder of $ Trump and that he will therefore be on the list of dinner and the private visit to the White House.

“Honored to support @potus and grateful for the invitation of @GettrumpMes to attend President Trump’s gala dinner as a big fan!” He wrote.

In 2023, Sun was billed by the Securities and Exchange Commission for the unregistered sale of its cryptocurrencies, to artificially inflate their commercial volume, as well as the concealment of payments to celebrity endorships to promote them, According to the dry. In February, the case of the dry was still pending, according to Reuters.

But Sun is perhaps better known to the general public for another purchase that he made last year during an auction in New York. The technology magnate bought a banana of $ 6.2 million stuck to a wall with adhesive tape – a conceptual work by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan. Sun then ate the banana, boasting on this subject on social networks.

After Sun, even, a crypto-network based in Singapore, ranks second. Like the sun, the same did not hide its quest for the slit n ° 1, Publication on X Earlier this month, “we are not only aiming for n ° 1 in the $ Trump ranking – we are here to conquer all the space of the meme”.

Wintermute, a crypto market manufacturing company based in London, would take place at n ° 3, according to Bitcoin World. NPR contacted the company to confirm its assets, but did not receive an immediate response.

What are the ethical implications?

Norm Eisen is a former ambassador who was an ethical advisor to Former President Barack Obama and is now executive president of Action of Democracy Defenders.

Quoting the Emoluments clause, the constitutional provision Who prohibits federal officials from accepting gifts, payments or other advantages of foreign governments without the consent of the congress, Eisen describes dinner as “the deepest ethics and the violations of constitutional emoluments in the history of our presidency”.

“The existence of this digital currency is a naked attempt to exploit the previous and current presidencies of Trump),” said Eisen.

“Foreigners and foreign governments will take advantage of this situation to put money-expect things in return,” he predicted.

The creation of such a counterpart could have important implications for national security, such an influence potentially leading to the decision of foreign policy which favors other countries in the United States, it is notably prohibited for foreign entities to donate to political campaigns or to influence the decision -making of candidates – all to avoid foreign interference in American affairs.

In a statement sent by email to NPR, the assistant press secretary of the White House, Anna Kelly, said: “The president works to obtain good deals for the American people, not for himself.”

“President Trump acts only in the best interest of the American public-that is why they re-elected him massively to this office, despite years of lies and false accusations against him and his fake media companies,” she said.

Speaking under the cover of anonymity, an official of the White House said: “The medal for meme has nothing to do with the White House.”

Lee, the investment manager, says that he does not think that the meme tokens or dinner have a particularly thorny ethical dilemma. “I don’t know how you would get Trump closer by buying his meme piece,” he said. “If you are a person of means, you can get closer to a politician, right?”

But even some Republican legislators have expressed concerns. The Wyoming senator Cynthia Lummis, an ardent supporter of Trump, said that the situation “took a break”, while the republican senator from Alaska, Lisa Murkowski, speaking to Nbcsaid, “I don’t think it would be appropriate for me to load people to enter the Capitol and do a tour.”

Eisen thinks that during the presidency of Obama, it would have been inconceivable that such an event takes place.

“Conversely, if one of us had suggested, he would have threw us out of the oval office,” he said.

But he believes that Trump’s challenge to the constitution’s emoluments clause will be challenged before the courts. Otherwise, Eisen says: “If it is not controlled, he will catch a sign” for sale “to the White House.”