<\/span><\/h3>\nLike Caesar, CLARITY died with several knives in its belly. There was the stablecoin \u2018rewards\u2019 issue; the question of how much legal protection to offer decentralized finance (DeFi) developers when their platforms were used by criminals; and Democrats\u2019 demands that President Trump respect tradition and fill at least some of the empty SEC\/CFTC seats with members of the minority party, to name a few.<\/p>\n
But the 800 lb. crypto gorilla in this room was the \u2018ethics\u2019 issue, aka Dems\u2019 desire to rein in Trump\u2019s crypto profiteering while he simultaneously advocated for regulatory changes and policy positions that would make those profits grow even larger.<\/p>\n
Republicans claimed the proposed ethics language was an unprecedented restraint on a sitting president, but Dems claimed the restraints were illusory and relied on Trump\u2019s own appointees to bite the hand that feeds.<\/p>\n
That hand has now gone right back to feeding the mouth it\u2019s attached to. This week, the company behind the $TRUMP memecoin announced its latest \u2018dinner\u2019 for the token\u2019s largest holders. The Most Exclusive Dinner in the World will take place at the Trump National Golf Club outside Washington on November 22.<\/p>\n
This is the third event in which individuals wishing to breathe the same oxygen as the president are being asked to buy more of his memecoin. The \u2018dinner with Trump\u2019 at Trump National in May 2025 was limited to the top 220 token holders, while the \u2018gala luncheon\u2019 at Mar-a-Lago this spring was hosted by 297. The current contest is paring this down to 185. The token derby will run until November 12.<\/p>\n
While the 2025 event promised a \u2018special VIP tour\u2019 to the top 25 holders, this year\u2019s event will offer the top 29 holders a \u2018VIP reception\u2019 while the top four will get a TRUMP 18K Gold Watch (sales must be slow). Given recent events, we suspect Tron founder Justin Sun (last year\u2019s top token holder) won\u2019t be attending this year\u2019s soir\u00e9e.<\/p>\n
The November shindig is also teasing the appearance of three \u2018legends\u2019 and\/or \u2018superstars,\u2019 whose identities are TBA. While we can only hope it\u2019s the three ghosts that visited Scrooge on Christmas Eve, we suspect it\u2019s more likely to be Trump\u2019s three sons, because the family that grifts together, something something.<\/p>\n
Following its release a couple of days before Trump took his second oath of office in January 2025, $TRUMP\u2019s price briefly soared to over $73 but has since fallen by ~97% from that peak. The dinner news gave $TRUMP a brief spike to $2.24 on Wednesday, but has since slid back closer to $2.<\/p>\n
$TRUMP was a major contributor to the over $1 billion the president earned off his crypto ventures last year, with reports indicating that Trump\u2019s gains were offset by similarly sized losses among token holders, many of whom bought the tokens because of their love for the president.<\/p>\n
However, there are signs that a line may have been crossed. Following CLARITY\u2019s demise, some prominent figures in the crypto sector flagged Trump\u2019s ethical issues as the primary contributor. The Washington Post published an article this week detailing the fading enthusiasm for Trump among young men, many of them avid crypto supporters. Some of those quoted were among those invited to previous $TRUMP events, but at least one now believes the entire $TRUMP saga was \u201ca rug pull.\u201d<\/p>\n
Back to the top \u2191<\/em><\/p>\n<\/span>Maybe Sherrod Brown should issue a memecoin<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\nCrypto bigwigs likely won\u2019t bat an eye at Trump\u2019s latest cash grab. They might even try to blame it on Democrats for failing to accept CLARITY\u2019s toothless ethics language. They already blame the Dems for CLARITY\u2019s demise, so what\u2019s one more addition to this burn book?<\/p>\n
The crypto sector\u2019s primary campaign finance weapon is the Fairshake political action committee (PAC), which is primarily backed by Coinbase, a16z, and XRP-issuer Ripple Labs. Fairshake spent $130 million in 2024 to elect crypto-friendly politicians and defeat crypto skeptics, and the PAC has around $120 million left to spend on November\u2019s midterms.<\/p>\n
In 2024, Fairshake spent $40 million to defeat Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH), a crypto critic who chaired the Senate Banking Committee. Brown is mounting a comeback bid this year against Jon Husted, the Republican appointed by Trump in 2025 after J.D. Vance became vice president. Last week, Fairshake announced it would spend $30 million to ensure an encore of Brown\u2019s defeat.<\/p>\n
This week, a different crypto PAC joined the Brown-bashing brigade. The Digital Freedom Fund (DFF), a PAC announced in August 2025 by the Winklevoss twins behind the Gemini (NASDAQ: GEMI) digital asset platform, had been utterly inactive since its announcement, but has finally found its voice (and its wallet).\u00a0<\/p>\n
Federal filings show DFF allocating nearly $3 million to boost Husted\u2019s chances of prevailing in November. Politico reported that half the sum would be spent on direct mail supporting Husted, while the other half would pay for mail claiming Brown is ugly and his mama dresses him funny.<\/p>\n
As if Brown didn\u2019t have enough problems, he learned last weekend that half of the ads he\u2019s been running on Facebook \u201cwent dark with no notice\u201d and he\u2019s \u201cstill not entirely sure why.\u201d Politico later quoted a spokesperson for Facebook\u2019s parent company, Meta (NASDAQ: META), apologizing for the \u201cerror\u201d that \u201cimpacted the delivery of ads for several advertisers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Call us cynical, but it probably hasn\u2019t gone unnoticed in the Meta camp that Brown\u2019s most successful attack line against Husted is the latter\u2019s support for artificial intelligence (AI) data centers. Meta is, of course, a major supporter of AI expansion, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg flagged as the chief architect of this week\u2019s \u2018morally binding\u2019 White House Accord on Super Intelligence.<\/p>\n
Regardless of the fact that it seems like the entire tech sector has its knives out for Brown, recent polls show him holding a slim lead over Husted. Perhaps those Dems who\u2019ve been arguing that the public now views tech sector backing through a pejorative lens were on to something after all.<\/p>\n
Back to the top \u2191<\/em><\/p>\n<\/span>Stand with Crypto fights to walk bipartisan tightrope<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\nThe Winklevii\u2019s DFF has also allocated $418,000 to support Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA) in her bid to win the Senate seat left open by Republican Joni Ernst, who opted against running for re-election. Hinson\u2019s opponent is the Iowa Democratic state representative, Josh Turek.<\/p>\n
Both Hinson and Turek received an \u2018A\u2019 rating from the Coinbase-funded astroturf group Stand with Crypto (SwC), so it\u2019s not clear why Turek is getting the bum\u2019s rush from DFF, other than the fact that the Winklevii have made it clear their campaign cash is to support Republicans, regardless of a candidate\u2019s views.<\/p>\n
On September 30, SwC issued its \u2018bipartisan endorsements\u2019 of seven candidates contesting the midterms, a list that includes Hinson and Husted. Other GOP figures getting SwC\u2019s blessing are Iowa Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Ohio House hopeful Derek Merrin.<\/p>\n
As for Dems, New Hampshire Rep. Chris Pappas got the nod in his state\u2019s Senate race against GOP incumbent John Sununu. In the House, Rep. Shomari Figures (D-AL) gets a thumbs-up, as does Pennsylvania hopeful Janelle Stelson in her bid to dethrone GOP incumbent Scott Perry.<\/p>\n
SwC also \u201ccommitted additional advertising resources\u201d in six House races, an evenly divided group of two Dem incumbents, two GOP incumbents, and one aspiring candidate from each party. SwC believes these races \u201cwill be especially influential in determining how pro- or anti-crypto the 120th Congress will be.\u201d They lose points for repeating \u2018will be\u2019 twice, but perhaps one of those is a Republican, and the other is a Democrat.<\/p>\n
Back to the top \u2191<\/em><\/p>\nFAQs:<\/strong><\/p>\nWhy did the CLARITY Act fail?<\/strong>How much did crypto spend on lobbying in 2026?<\/strong>Who spent the most on crypto lobbying?<\/strong>When is the next $TRUMP dinner?<\/strong>How much is $TRUMP coin worth now?<\/strong>Why is crypto spending against Sherrod Brown?<\/strong>Who did Stand with Crypto endorse?<\/strong>\n<\/span>Related articles<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/section>\nBack to the top \u2191<\/em><\/p>\nWatch: Blockchain\u2019s Privacy Problem, Explained<\/p>\n\n