Snoop Dogg was the main performer at the first-ever cryptocurrency inauguration ceremony held in Washington on Friday evening.
Mackenzie Sigalos
As the cryptocurrency industry celebrates the arrival of a new administration in Washington, D.C., no one is taking advantage of the upcoming changes faster than the person leading the charge: President Donald J. Trump.
On Friday night, crypto celebrities met with political elites and members of Trump’s inner circle at the Crypto Ball, held at the lavish Mellon Auditorium, down the street from the White House.
At the same time, Trump’s net worth was about to explode from assets that did not exist until that point. On the same night as the next president’s party Fired $TRUMP, a meme coin built on the Solana platform. Its market value rose over the weekend Past 14 billion dollars. As with other meme currencies, there is no underlying product. “It’s time to celebrate everything we stand for: winning!” Trump told his followers in a social media post.
the Website As for $TRUMP, he says 80% of the coins are owned by the Trump Organization and its affiliates.
Inside Crypto Ball there were some leaders of platforms that allow ordinary investors to buy into Trump’s latest project. Included Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and Kraken co-founder Jesse Powell.
Trump is not finished yet with a single symbol.
On Sunday, $MELANIA, named after the First Lady, was introduced. The currency quickly rose by more than 40%, exceeding $2 billion in value. Trump and Melania coins have fallen significantly from their highs.
Then there’s World Liberty Financial, a decentralized finance project endorsed by the Trump family, which raised its token price from 1.5 cents to 5 cents and issued an additional 5 billion tokens for sale. The project, which initially launched in September, has raised more than $300 million in total sales to date. According to blockchain company Arkham Intelligence.
The Trump family receives 75% of World Liberty’s cryptocurrency revenue, according to the project’s founding document. On-chain data shows millions of dollars worth of token transfers to Coinbase’s institutional custodian provider.
“We make routine movements of our cryptocurrency holdings as part of regular treasury management, payment of fees and expenses, and to meet working capital requirements,” World Liberty said in a statement.
CNBC reached out to Donald and Melania Trump earlier Monday and received no response.
“Reign of Terror”
Within 48 hours, the Trump family’s net worth rose by billions of dollars, based on their holdings of just-launched digital assets, underscoring the unregulated nature of cryptocurrencies and the president’s ability to use his fame, power, and new partnership with the Trump family. An emerging industry to enrich himself, his family, and his allies at the click of a button.
The broader market enthusiasm was expressed in the price Bitcoinwhich rose to an all-time high hours before the inauguration to nearly $110,000. Cryptocurrency industry leaders and investors emerged as some of Trump’s biggest supporters on the campaign trail in an attempt to influence future policies and ease restrictive regulations imposed during the Biden administration. In July, Trump delivered the keynote address at a Bitcoin conference in Nashville, Tennessee.
Digital asset entrepreneurs, politicians and members of Trump’s inner circle hit the red carpet at the first-ever cryptocurrency inauguration in Washington on Friday.
Mackenzie Sigalos
“The reign of terror against cryptocurrencies is over,” David Sachs, a prominent Silicon Valley investor and the White House’s new AI and cryptocurrency czar, said to a packed DC auditorium on Friday night. His comments were met with applause that echoed under the soaring columns of Mellon Hall.
Sachs, who has been a former critic of Trump and said the events of Jan. 6, 2021, “disqualified” him from running nationally, threw his weight behind Trump last year. He hosted a high-profile fundraiser at his San Francisco mansion in June, and regularly promoted the Republican candidate on the popular “All-In” show.
“The beginning of crypto innovation in America has only just begun,” Sachs added on Friday.
On X, formerly Twitter, conversations have been heating up about the new $TRUMP coin. There was a lot of skepticism from in and around the industry.
“Trump needs to fire his crypto advisors, top to bottom, and replace them with people who know what they are doing,” wrote Gabor Gorbaks, founder of digital asset firm Pointsville. In a job On
Mark Cuban, the former billionaire tech entrepreneur and part-owner of the Dallas Mavericks, commented on the apparent chaos of it all. Cuban, a longtime independent who has become a vocal supporter of Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, said coins are particularly harmful to the cryptocurrency industry in its efforts to prove its legitimacy.
“Welcome to every scam that targets everyone and anyone who has no idea about cryptocurrencies.” books.
But at the pre-inauguration party, Trump’s new coin wasn’t a big topic. Instead, the conversation focused on the broader ramifications of Trump’s policies, which promised to dismantle years of regulatory gridlock in the Biden administration.
“Two years ago, everyone thought cryptocurrencies were dead,” said one attendee who requested to remain anonymous in order to speak frankly about the topic. “A year ago, we were begging for help, and this weekend, we are on top of the world.”
Cryptocurrency companies made significant contributions to Trump’s inaugural fund, indicating their enthusiasm. Ripple donated $5 million in digital tokens, while Coinbase, Kraken, and Circle each donated $1 million. Online mediation Robinhood Contribute $2 million.
Inside the first-ever Crypto Ball at Mellon Hall in Washington before Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Mackenzie Sigalos
Coinbase and Kraken have been fighting the SEC in court. Robinhood received a Welsh notice in May related to its U.S. cryptocurrency business, which is typically one of the final steps before the SEC issues formal charges. Ripple has been locked in a years-long legal battle with the Securities and Exchange Commission and outgoing Chairman Gary Gensler.
“The question now is: What do we do with this momentum?” said Stuart Alderotti, Ripple’s chief legal officer, who attended Friday night’s festivities. “How can we build on this momentum and move forward to deliver on the promise that I believe this new administration has to make the United States the cryptocurrency capital of the world?”
Alderotti wants to see a coalition formed to discuss unified policy priorities.
“Ultimately, Congress will own the policy, and we cannot dictate to Congress what the policy should be,” Alderotti said. “It would be nice, before that, in the face of the most crypto-friendly Congress ever, to have some consensus on priorities,” Alderotti said, noting that the industry has been divided as of late. past when the proposals were submitted.
Inside the encrypted ball
There was a heavy dose of support from the party’s lawmakers, all on the Republican side of the aisle. House Speaker Mike Johnson was present, along with Senators Marsha Blackburn, Ted Cruz and Cynthia Lummis. Former Assemblymen French Hill and Patrick McHenry arrived to show their support.
cleanspark CEO Zach Bradford, who has been meeting with Trump for private roundtables to discuss Bitcoin mining, said he spoke with Howard Lutnick, Trump’s pick to be Commerce Secretary, at the event.
“We talked about bitcoin mining and how bitcoin, and also bitcoin mining, can be a central point of commerce,” Bradford told CNBC.
Bradford said he emphasized to Lutnick the potential for Bitcoin mining to be an important economic driver.
“It’s a positive revenue generator from a net production perspective,” Bradford said. “But we also contribute significant tax revenue to the states in which we operate.”
Bradford said Lutnick is “excited about this,” describing him as “someone who gets Bitcoin.”
Scott Besent, who is likely to be the next Chancellor of the Exchequer, made his way across the main floor of the hall and posed for photos with those in attendance.
Bessent was “very shy about things, but the fact that he was there was very interesting,” said Koh Harada, chief operating officer of Aleo, a privacy-focused blockchain company.
Aleo, which has raised more than $200 million from investors including SoftBank and Andreessen Horowitz, has chosen to base its business in the US while many competitors have chosen to launch their businesses from offshore jurisdictions such as the Cayman Islands as a shield from various regulations.
“We didn’t set up shop in the United States on a whim,” Harada said. By speaking to a mix of legal and compliance experts, the company realized that “America is the best fertilizer for technology — period,” he said.
Aleo, which combines privacy-focused functionality with smart contract capabilities, Harada added that it has become an essential resource for other startups looking to return to the United States. The company chose Wyoming, a state known for its cryptocurrency-friendly policies.
“Wyoming has emerged as the most welcoming state to cryptocurrencies,” Harada said. “They have instituted forward-thinking policies and even established blockchain research centers at the University of Wyoming.”
It was a fireside chat in the green room to welcome MAGA Inc. dignitaries. Where the most important exchanges of the evening unfolded.
Mackenzie Sigalos
He was in attendance on Friday as well Accurate strategy Its founder, Michael Saylor, wears an orange tie, a reference to the distinctive color of Bitcoin. Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and senior Coinbase executives, including global policy chief Faryar Shirzad, mingled with guests.
The Winklevoss twins spoke to a group that included Andreessen Horowitz’s Chris Dixon and associate Sriram Krishnan, who recently left his role as general partner at the firm to join the Saks team. Bo Haynes, Trump’s pick to lead the President’s Council of Advisors on Digital Assets, was also present. He will report directly to Sachs.
While Snoop Dogg performed in the main hall, venture capitalist Katie Hawn was busy in conversation with Galaxy Digital’s Mike Novogratz. Other musical guests are Rick Ross and Soulja Boy, who was Charged by the SEC in 2023 on charges of illegally promoting a cryptocurrency token without disclosing that he was paid, keeping the larger public entertained.
Guests were issued wristbands based on their status. Black bracelets indicate general admission and gold allows entry to the VIP balcony. White gangs were given the most exclusive privileges. General admission costs $2,500, and some patrons paid $1 million for access to the green room on the ground floor behind the stage in the main ballroom.
Under heavy security, Donald Trump Jr. wore custom MAGA buttons on his shirt as he quickly made his way to the deepest room in the VIP section, a room barricaded by a rotating guard that allows only certain guests inside. Along with Sachs and Speaker Johnson, he can be seen speaking with Fred Thiel, the CEO of the mining company Mara Holding.
Thiel shared details of his company’s blockchain initiative earlier that day with Johnson, an effort designed to symbolize the intersection of cryptocurrencies and politics.
“We minted a block on the blockchain bearing President Trump’s image, generated entirely from transactions,” Thiel said.
House Speaker Mike Johnson with MARA CEO Fred Thiel. Johnson was seen texting President Donald Trump a photo of the Trump47 Bitcoin block that Mara had minted earlier that day.
Fred Thiel
The block, called Trump47, integrated Trump’s image into the Bitcoin blockchain, creating a permanent digital tribute to the president.
“We released the film on Friday morning, and it went viral,” Thiel said. He added that Johnson was “so touched” that he texted Trump a photo of her.
Tracy Hoyos Lopez, a former California attorney general and one of the people credited with turning Trump on to Bitcoin, was also at the event.
“Don’t mess with cryptocurrencies,” Hoyos Lopez, who helped plan the evening’s celebration, told CNBC as Snoop Dogg performed his live set. “Our event is a symbol of who we are in the world.”
He watches: Bitcoin exceeds $100,000
