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To be the president and introduce your own cryptocurrency a few days before beginning your second term just seems off in the first place, but then hosting the individuals who purchased the most of your tokens at a high-cost dinner at your own golf club certainly drives it even further.
I mean, obviously, the tokens skyrocketed in value because people, or should I say millionaires frantically bought them just so they would be able to attend dinner at Trump's table. Makes it pretty obvious it's not so much about cryptocurrency as it's about purchasing influence and access.
Why will someone want to spend millions of dollars on a meme coin?
The worst part at least for me, is if there might be foreign investors involved. Under normal circumstances, they cannot simply give money to a president since giving money to a president is illegal, but if they can buy tokens through a cryptocurrency, their identities cannot be easily traced. Some of the guests even expressed that they enjoyed the anonymity of the transaction.
Come on why wouldn't they?
Senator Blumenthal's statement that Trump is "auctioning" himself seems fairly accurate if you take a step back and think about it. He's basically offering a pay-for-play situation where you buy the tokens and the better your odds of sitting at the table next to him. It seems like he's treating the presidency as a commodity or a good you can buy if you're wealthy enough. Blumenthal is proposing a lawsuit against Trump because the Constitution clearly prohibits officials from receiving presents from foreign nations without approval from Congress.
The fact that they're even thinking about filing lawsuits shows this must be serious.
Maxine Waters, a U.S representative for California is also sponsoring a bill titled the "Stop TRUMP in Crypto Act". That bill would prevent government officials from owning or operating crypto businesses. Waters calls Trump's crypto dealings shady and fraudulent, and I see her point. It does feel like he’s mixing politics with his own financial interests in a way that's making the presidential seat look like an investment opportunity for a billionaire.