crypto

A close analysis of the top buyers on the “leaderboard” on the website of $TRUMP shows that a majority of the attendees appear to be foreign nationals who purchased the token through offshore cryptocurrency exchanges that prohibit U.S. customers from participating. 15 Analysis reveals that 161 of the 220 top buyers, or 73% of the invitees, are likely foreign nationals. Among the top 25 “VIP” guests who were offered additional private access to you, including a “VIP White House tour” 16—and who each spent between $1.25 million and $16 million on $TRUMP tokens—23 out of 25 are likely foreign individuals or entities.17 A majority of those on the guest list had never purchased a $TRUMP token prior to the announcement of the dinner, suggesting that the buyers were primarily drawn by the promise of direct access to you rather than intrinsic interest in the memecoin itself.18

https://www.citationneeded.news/issue-81/

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153d

Newsletter: Trump continues to dismantle crypto enforcement while expanding his personal crypto empire.

Most recently, Trump has called the DOJ off cryptocurrency enforcement and dismantled the agency's crypto enforcement team.

#law #Constitution #EmolumentsClause #ForeignAsset #Compromised #NationalSecurity #InfoSec #Trump #crypto #grift
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trumps-controversial-meme-coin-contest-proves-predictably-profitable-p-rcna203293

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133d

It still seems hard to believe, but in the last #Congress, the #House #Republican majority formally launched an #impeachment inquiry against Joe #Biden. The endeavor never made any sense, but the underlying allegation was that the Democratic president was somehow the beneficiary of a weird #bribery scheme.

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133d

Prosecutors have requested Alex Mashinsky, CEO of the collapsed Celsius cryptocurrency company, be sentenced to at least twenty years in prison for his "sustained, calculated campaign of deceit carried out over years, targeting ordinary people."

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67604619/144/united-states-v-mashinsky/

#Celsius #crypto #cryptocurrency

$respect for the law, and the need to avoid unwarranted sentencing disparities, the Court should impose a term of imprisonment of no less than 20 years. I. The Nature, Circumstances, and Seriousness of the Offense Warrant a Significant Sentence The nature and circumstances of the defendant’s crimes are extraordinarily serious. First, the scope of Mashinsky’s fraud is staggering. Tens of thousands of customers deposited billions of dollars based on false assurances of safety and soundness. When Celsius inevitably collapsed, Celsius’s customers lost access to more than $5 billion dollars of their crypto, devastating the financial lives of countless victims. Even after the bankruptcy process, investors are short over $1 billion under even the most conservative calculation. Mashinsky’s criminal conduct was aimed at and harmed retail investors at an unimaginable scale. Mashinsky’s scheme focused on soliciting crypto from what he describes as “everyday people.” Def. Mem. at 14. As a result, almost all the victims of his crime were retail crypto investors whose losses constituted a significant portion of their savings and had devastating consequences on their lives. This was not a financial crime in which a few well-heeled hedge funds and sophisticated institutional investors lost a small fraction of their assets. It was a crime in which Mashinsky deliberately targeted real, “everyday”$

The more than 200 victim letters submitted in connection with sentencing are heartbreaking. They reflect the devastating real-world impact that the defendant’s fraud had on working people who trusted him to keep their savings safe. For example: • He used my bitcoin to inflate the price of his printed CEL token and whilst insiders ran for the exits when the smoke alarm rang I stood firm inside believing the loans were secure when in reality Celsius operated as a hedge fund and crypto speculator . . . I was emotionally devasted into darkness followed by the shame of confronting all those I had convinced to invest in Celsius . . . My will to live remained only because I was a father to triplets and was responsible for their well-being.16 • I’m now 59 and lost my entire life savings (nearly 9 Bitcoin) in the Celsius bk case. Needless to say, at my age, it was absolutely devastating . . . I lost my apartment, I could no longer help my very sick mother, I had to liquidate everything else I owned just to scrape by. I literally had to ‘camp’ out of my vehicle for nearly a year until I could begin to get back on my feet. The suffering, depression, humiliation & despair was far beyond any jail term. I implore the Court to impose the absolute maximum sentence permissible when sentencing Alex. He still has no shame, no remorse nor any regret for robbing hundreds of thousands of victims

$• Due to Alex’s misrepresentation & blatant lies of how celsius was rehypothecating creditor's bitcoin, I lost my entire retirement savings, home, and am struggling to pay medical expenses.21 • Alex Mashinsky preyed upon the lowest hanging fruit—yearning people in need of financial success—which is why so many people were hurt by his actions. Myself included. . . Thousands of us are left scrounging and praying that we can get a tiny fraction of our previous claim returned.22 • I had placed all my cryptocurrency on Celsius Network because of statements made weekly by Mr. Mashinsky on his AMAs. I relied on what he said and he intentionally deceived me and misrepresented the facts. . . . I am a retired school teacher and I was counting on my cryptocurrency holdings to fund my retirement and to pass on to future generations. Mr. Mashinsky has changed my financial trajectory and that of my family. He will never understand the damage he has done to me and other victims.23 This is only a small sampling of the victim statements discussing the harm suffered by those who trusted Mashinsky. Contrary to Mashinsky’s claims, Mashinsky’s victims were not made whole by the bankruptcy process. On its effective date, the restructuring plan in the bankruptcy showed that the total estimate for allowed claims, which entirely or almost entirely includes customer claims, was over $5 billion—meani$

https://www.citationneeded.news/trump-memecoin-dinner-guests/

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116d

Coinbase announces it's joining the S&P 500 and then announces a serious data breach two days later

oof

#coinbase #crypto

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124d

Newsletter: Crypto traders are spending millions of dollars on TRUMP memecoins to buy access to the president at an upcoming private dinner, exacerbating existing ethics concerns. 73% of the attendees are likely not American, only adding further concerns over foreign influence.

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112d

With 16 Democrats voting in favor, the GENIUS Act stablecoin bill has passed cloture in the Senate.

Alsobrooks (MD), Blunt Rochester (DE), Booker (NJ), Cortez Masto (NV), Fetterman (PA), Gallego (AZ), Gillibrand (NY), Hassan (NH), Heinrich (NM), Lujan (NM), Ossoff (GA), Padilla (CA), Rosen (NV), Schiff (CA), Slotkin (MI), Warner (VA).

Grouped By Vote Position
YEAs ---66
Alsobrooks (D-MD)
Banks (R-IN)
Barrasso (R-WY)
Blackburn (R-TN)
Blunt Rochester (D-DE)
Booker (D-NJ)
Boozman (R-AR)
Britt (R-AL)
Budd (R-NC)
Capito (R-WV)
Cassidy (R-LA)
Collins (R-ME)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Cortez Masto (D-NV)
Cotton (R-AR)
Cramer (R-ND)
Crapo (R-ID)
Cruz (R-TX)
Curtis (R-UT)
Daines (R-MT)
Ernst (R-IA)
Fetterman (D-PA)
Fischer (R-NE)
Gallego (D-AZ)
Gillibrand (D-NY)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Hagerty (R-TN)
Hassan (D-NH)
Heinrich (D-NM)
Hoeven (R-ND)
Husted (R-OH)
Hyde-Smith (R-MS)
Johnson (R-WI)
Justice (R-WV)
Kennedy (R-LA)
Lankford (R-OK)
Lee (R-UT)
Lujan (D-NM)
Lummis (R-WY)
Marshall (R-KS)
McConnell (R-KY)
McCormick (R-PA)
Moody (R-FL)
Moreno (R-OH)
Mullin (R-OK)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Ossoff (D-GA)
Padilla (D-CA)
Ricketts (R-NE)
Risch (R-ID)
Rosen (D-NV)
Rounds (R-SD)
Schiff (D-CA)
Schmitt (R-MO)
Scott (R-FL)
Scott (R-SC)
Sheehy (R-MT)
Slotkin (D-MI)
Sullivan (R-AK)
Thune (R-SD)
Tillis (R-NC)
Tuberville (R-AL)
Warner (D-VA)
Wicker (R-MS)
Young (R-IN)
NAYs ---32
Baldwin (D-WI)
Bennet (D-CO)
Blumenthal (D-CT)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Coons (D-DE)
Duckworth (D-IL)
Durbin (D-IL)
Hickenlooper (D-CO)
Hirono (D-HI)
Kaine (D-VA)
Kim (D-NJ)
King (I-ME)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Markey (D-MA)
Merkley (D-OR)
Moran (R-KS)
Murphy (D-CT)
Murray (D-WA)
Paul (R-KY)
Peters (D-MI)
Reed (D-RI)
Sanders (I-VT)
Schatz (D-HI)
Schumer (D-NY)
Shaheen (D-NH)
Smith (D-MN)
Van Hollen (D-MD)
Warnock (D-GA)
Warren (D-MA)
Welch (D-VT)
Whitehouse (D-RI)
Wyden (D-OR)

Alphabetical by Senator Name
Alsobrooks (D-MD), Yea
Baldwin (D-WI), Nay
Banks (R-IN), Yea
Barrasso (R-WY), Yea
Bennet (D-CO), Nay
Blackburn (R-TN), Yea
Blumenthal (D-CT), Nay
Blunt Rochester (D-DE), Yea
Booker (D-NJ), Yea
Boozman (R-AR), Yea
Britt (R-AL), Yea
Budd (R-NC), Yea
Cantwell (D-WA), Nay
Capito (R-WV), Yea
Cassidy (R-LA), Yea
Collins (R-ME), Yea
Coons (D-DE), Nay
Cornyn (R-TX), Yea
Cortez Masto (D-NV), Yea
Cotton (R-AR), Yea
Cramer (R-ND), Yea
Crapo (R-ID), Yea
Cruz (R-TX), Yea
Curtis (R-UT), Yea
Daines (R-MT), Yea
Duckworth (D-IL), Nay
Durbin (D-IL), Nay
Ernst (R-IA), Yea
Fetterman (D-PA), Yea
Fischer (R-NE), Yea
Gallego (D-AZ), Yea
Gillibrand (D-NY), Yea
Graham (R-SC), Yea
Grassley (R-IA), Yea
Hagerty (R-TN), Yea
Hassan (D-NH), Yea
Hawley (R-MO), Not Voting
Heinrich (D-NM), Yea
Hickenlooper (D-CO), Nay
Hirono (D-HI), Nay
Hoeven (R-ND), Yea
Husted (R-OH), Yea
Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Yea
Johnson (R-WI), Yea
Justice (R-WV), Yea
Kaine (D-VA), Nay
Kelly (D-AZ), Not Voting
Kennedy (R-LA), Yea
Kim (D-NJ), Nay
King (I-ME), Nay
Klobuchar (D-MN), Nay
Lankford (R-OK), Yea
Lee (R-UT), Yea
Lujan (D-NM), Yea
Lummis (R-WY), Yea
Markey (D-MA), Nay
Marshall (R-KS), Yea
McConnell (R-KY), Yea
McCormick (R-PA), Yea
Merkley (D-OR), Nay
Moody (R-FL), Yea
Moran (R-KS), Nay
Moreno (R-OH), Yea
Mullin (R-OK), Yea
Murkowski (R-AK), Yea
Murphy (D-CT), Nay
Murray (D-WA), Nay
Ossoff (D-GA), Yea
Padilla (D-CA), Yea
Paul (R-KY), Nay
Peters (D-MI), Nay
Reed (D-RI), Nay
Ricketts (R-NE), Yea

https://www.citationneeded.news/trump-crypto-wallet/

Edited 112d ago

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98d

SCOOP: Trump to launch branded crypto wallet and trading application, encouraging his supporters to purchase his memecoin and other crypto assets.

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97d

Absolute chaos. After my scoop about the upcoming launch of a Trump Wallet by Magic Eden, in cooperation with the $TRUMP memecoin team, Magic Eden pushed out their announcement. Both Eric and Don Jr then repudiated the project, stating they had no prior knowledge.

Eric Trump
@EricTrump
I run
@Trump
and I know nothing about this project!
@worldlibertyfi
$Trump
@AmericanBTC

Donald Trump Jr.
@DonaldJTrumpJr
The Trump Organization has zero involvement with this wallet product.
@EricTrump
and I know nothing about it. Stay tuned—World Liberty Financial
@worldlibertyfi
, which we have been working tirelessly on, will be launching our official wallet soon.

Magic Eden 🪄
@MagicEden
·
1h
BIG NEWS! The Official $TRUMP WALLET is COMING SOON! The First and Only Crypto Wallet for True Trump Fans.

Join the FREE waitlist for a chance to get a share of $1 MILLION IN $TRUMP REWARDS! Go to https://trumpwallet.com NOW!

The $TRUMP Wallet is Powered by
@magiceden

#Programming #CodeForge #Radicle #GitHub #GitLab #Codeberg #FOSS #FreeSoftware #VersionControl #crypto #Cryptocurrency #NFT #DAO #SmartContract #Ethereum #Libertarian

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97d

I'm finally moving over to Radicle (https://radicle.xyz) instead of switching to another centralized code forge (like GitHub, GitLab, Codeberg, etc.). I definitely love the idea behind a #P2P code forge and I'm hopeful for Radicle's future, but I do have some reservations starting off:

1) Despite talking a lot about freedom and privacy in the tutorial, the group building Radicle (https://radworks.org/) is planning to sell hosting and make a profit via an Ethereum-based cryptocurrency (https://www.tally.xyz/gov/radworks) as well as NFTs and smart contracts. Some big Libertarian red flags there.

2) At some point there was a Swiss nonprofit "Radicle Foundation", but this now seems to be a for-profit venture (see https://radicle.xyz/history). I wish it could just be a nonprofit.

3) In the user guide chapter on private repos (https://radicle.xyz/guides/user), it says that I need to use a public DNS address trusted seed node to share the repo. I understand there's no DHT here, but I hope it's not too much of a pain to run this over my local network instead of the internet. (And yeah, I know I can use git locally, I just want to test Radicle locally.)

Overall, I think that if radworks turns out to be evil it will be a way easier transition to fork Radicle than it has been to leave GitHub, but I still wish I didn't have to worry.

Edited 97d ago

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111d

Adam Levitin on the GENIUS Act: “[I]n regard to cash deposits, the stablecoin investors will have priority over the claims of ma-and-pa for their bank deposits (and thus over the FDIC's subrogation claim when it pays ma-and-pa). Yes, you read that correctly: Congress is about to put the claims of stablecoin investors ahead of ma and pa's bank deposits. That's just stunning. Now ma-and-pa's deposits are FDIC insured, so they'll be alright, but it means the FDIC's Deposit Insurance Fund is footing the bill. In other words, the GENIUS Act is subsidizing stablecoin issuance on the back of bank deposits. By subordinating the FDIC's subrogation claim in a bank insolvency to the claims of stablecoin investors, the GENIUS Act is effectively letting FDIC insurance leak out to cover uninsured stablecoins, without any insurance premiums paid.”

https://www.creditslips.org/creditslips/2025/05/the-genius-acts-insolvency-provisions-crypto-investors-come-ahead-of-bank-depositors.html

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97d

i think i need some red string

A notebook showing a convoluted web of about 10 different Trump entities and crypto projects, with arrows between them and various members of the Trump families

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96d

I think this is a more or less up-to-date map of the businesses, LLCs, and people associated with the Trump family crypto projects.

Extremely tangled diagram depicting relationships between nine LLCs, seven major companies, the Trump family, Bill Zanker and various other individuals, and various crypto projects including the $TRUMP memecoin, NFTs, World Liberty Financial, and the new Trump wallet

Edited 96d ago

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83d

GENIUS Act (stablecoin bill) has passed the Senate.

https://www.citationneeded.news/issue-85/

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95d

Newsletter: As Trump’s web of crypto projects gets tangled up in itself, a regulator warns of “regulatory Jenga” in the crypto sector that echoes the 2008 financial crisis

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92d

Truth Social post by Donald Trump: Newsmax link with the headline “Trump Meme Coin is ‘Tracker’ of President’s Success”

Price chart of the Trump memecoin, showing a nearly down-only trajectory since its launch

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-income-57-million-crypto-venture-financial-disclosure-1235365026/

Edited 92d ago

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86d

Acc to White House financial report, #Trump Raked in $57.3 Million From #Crypto Venture Meme Coin.

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62d

Senator Kennedy spends his time during the hearing on crypto legislation demanding that law prof Richard Painter apologize to Senator Gillibrand for tweeting that she accepted $217,000 in crypto industry money, then attacks Painter as a "whackjob" after he says Kennedy should focus on the bill.

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84d

Just updated my diagram of Trump’s crypto entanglements based on his most recent financial disclosures 😵‍💫

Full-size image: https://storage.mollywhite.net/trump-family-crypto-projects.png
Disclosures: https://oge.app.box.com/s/k0hxcezgk7j1cyqoue16cillsi9srmfu

Extremely tangled diagram depicting relationships between LLCs, major companies, the Trump family, Bill Zanker and various other individuals, and various crypto projects including the $TRUMP memecoin, NFTs, World Liberty Financial, etc.

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56d

It's no coincidence that the Fairshake crypto super PAC has timed its press release announcing they have $140 million ready for the midterms as Congress is considering three crypto bills during "Crypto Week". Pass our bills, or we will spend millions against you in the midterms.

#surveillance #crypto #cryptocurrency #USpol #USpolitics

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61d

A couple of years ago I wrote a tweet thread about how I'd begun to see people in the crypto and finreg spaces expressing excitement about the traceability of cryptocurrencies.

Thinking back to it as I watch Senators and crypto industry executives talk about how delightfully traceable public blockchains are. No pesky warrant required!

Molly White
@molly0xFFF
1:33 PM · Feb 14, 2023
the past ~month or so i've suddenly started seeing a bunch of people in crypto and in the financial regulatory/enforcement world who are unironically excited about crypto because of the financial surveillance it could empower, and that scares the shit out of me

the other day i was listening to a conversation about how "algorithms" could detect criminal activity occurring on public ledgers in real time to automatically alert law enforcement, or be programmed into the money itself to stop transactions.

[Screenshot of a text message: "or I'm going to move to a cabin in the woods with a faraday cage built around it"]

anyone know any good welders?

i run into people somewhat regularly who think that because i don't like crypto, i support unfettered government/LEO surveillance of personal finances.

like, no, that's part of WHY i don't like crypto

Senator Tim Scott: And let's set the record straight. Crypto isn't lawless, it's traceable. In fact, crypto companies are helping law enforcement track illicit activity with greater precision than traditional finance allows.

Jonathan Levin, Chainalysis CEO: But the unprecedented visibility offered by the public blockchain has to be factored into the assessment of both activity and risk. With the right tools, the public ledger becomes a powerful resource for market participants, regulators, and law enforcement to protect financial integrity. ... Getting the right regulations in place will ... require the government to leverage the transparency and available real-time information for effective supervision.

Senator Tim Scott: There's a common belief that money laundering is easy with crypto, but the truth is it's not. Blockchain technology creates a permanent traceable ledger that can help law enforcement catch those bad actors. I've said it before, so I'll say it again: It's far easier to track something that has a digital footprint than something that does not.

Senator Britt: And transactions on the blockchain offer a unique ability for tracing and tracking, including analyzing trends on the ledger.

Brad Garlinghouse, Ripple CEO: I think the good news has been in many cases they don't often understand how traceable and trackable that actually is and it's more trackable than,

https://www.followthecrypto.org/quidproquo

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82d

Quid pro quo between cryptocurrency firms, the Trump administration, and the Trump family’s crypto ventures.

Quid pro quo
Cryptocurrency companies are reaping the benefits of their contributions to Trump and other pro-crypto politicians.
Company Benefit Contribution
Justin Sun and Tron
SEC enforcement case stayed pending resolution
Criminal investigation possibly paused
$75 million to purchase WLFI tokens from Trump-owned World Liberty Financial
$37.7 million to purchase $TRUMP memecoins (via HTX)
Listed USD1 for trading on HTX
Cumberland DRW
SEC enforcement case dismissed with prejudice
$100 million investment into Trump-owned Trump Media & Technology Group
$100,000 to crypto-focused super PACs
Ripple
SEC enforcement case stayed pending resolution
Joint request to return $75 million of previous SEC fine to Ripple
$73 million to crypto-focused super PACs
$5 million to Trump inauguration fund
Coinbase
SEC enforcement case dismissed with prejudice
Relaunched bitcoin borrowing program previously shut down after SEC warnings
$75 million to crypto-focused super PACs
$1 million to Senate super PACs
$1 million to Trump inauguration fund
Sponsored Trump birthday military parade
Andreessen Horowitz
Four Andreessen Horowitz employees installed in formal or informal positions of influence at the White House
$70 million to crypto-focused super PACs
$5.35 million to Trump super PACs
Gemini
SEC enforcement case stayed pending reslution
SEC investigation ended with no action
$4.9 million t

https://www.citationneeded.news/issue-86/

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81d

Newsletter: Issue 86 – State power sponsored by Coinbase

Coinbase’s sponsorship of Trump’s military parade angered some in the crypto world, who described the move as “deeply disturbing” and “an insult to everything our industry stands for”. But this is only the latest example of crypto companies aligning with state power.

Earlier this month, the cryptocurrency firm Ripple made a $9.4 million contribution to the San Francisco Police Department to fund a surveillance center outfitted with drones. “We’re going to be covering the entire city with drones,” enthused a SFPD Captain about the donation.

In the White House
Trump held his $40 million birthday boy military parade on June 14, and apparently offset the cost at least somewhat with contributions from the likes of Coinbase. This didn’t exactly sit well with some of the increasingly rare breed of crypto believers who still champion the technology’s early anti-establishment values.

“What Coinbase did by sponsoring this army parade feels like an insult to everything our industry stands for. Crypto emerged from ideals of decentralization, individual sovereignty, and freedom from oppressive state control—not to funnel resources into institutions whose core purpose involves violence and ending lives,” wrote one crypto enthusiast.10 Another wrote, “I entered the crypto world in 2017 to stand against late stage capitalism...not help crypto bros fund it.”11 Megan Knab, CEO of a crypto payroll company, responded to the sponsorship by eulogizing the industry’s cypherpunk roots in a CoinDesk op-ed, where she wrote: “The ethos of crypto—the cypherpunk values that got us here—is being diluted, co-opted, and in some cases, directly betrayed.”12

This is only the most recent in a rapidly growing list of examples of crypto companies and their executives aligning with state power. Earlier this month, Ripple made a contribution worth $9.4 million to the San Francisco Police Department to establish a new surveillance center that will operate a fleet of drones, surveillance cameras, and license plate readers. “We are proud to help usher in a new era of accountability,” said Ripple CEO Chris Larsen in a statement about the contribution.13 “We’re going to be covering the entire city with drones,” enthused SFPD Captain Thomas MacGuire.14

https://www.citationneeded.news/issue-88/

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59d

Newsletter: Crypto firms hope putting a blockchain veneer on traditional equities will allow them to sidestep lessons learned in the 1929 Wall Street crash, crypto firms look to become banks, and Congress celebrates crypto surveillance while claiming to outlaw it