Here’s what happened in crypto today
Today in crypto, US lawmakers have urged the Justice Department to investigate President Donald Trump's crypto dinner. Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao has pushed back reports linking him to World Liberty Financial. Meanwhile, Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Commissioner Summer Mersinger suggested that crypto perpetual futures could soon be introduced in US markets.
US House members call for investigation into Trump's memecoin dinner
Members of the US House of Representatives called for the Justice Department to investigate Donald Trump’s May 22 dinner for his top memecoin investors, citing concerns about “foreign influence over US policy decisions” and “potential corruption and emoluments clause violations.”
In a May 22 letter to the Justice Department, 35 House members asked the public integrity section acting chief, Edward Sullivan, to launch an inquiry over the memecoin dinner to determine whether it violated the federal bribery statute or the foreign emoluments clause of the US Constitution.
Under the emoluments clause, a US president is barred from accepting any gift from a foreign state without the approval of Congress. Bloomberg reported that a majority of the attendees at the memecoin dinner were likely foreign nationals based on their connections to crypto exchanges.
“US law prohibits foreign persons from contributing to US political campaigns,” said the letter. “However, the $TRUMP memecoin, including the promotion of a dinner promising exclusive access to the President, opens the door for foreign governments to buy influence with the President, all without disclosing their identities.”
The call for an investigation and a press conference asking Trump to “release the guest list” for the dinner both occurred hours before the event, which was held at the Trump National Golf Club outside Washington, DC. A group of protesters, joined by Senator Jeff Merkley, gathered outside the venue with signs stating “illegal crypto party” and “democracy is not for sale.”
CZ refutes claims in latest WSJ article on Trump-linked crypto dealings
Binance co-founder and former CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has pushed back against a report in The Wall Street Journal, calling it a “hit piece” filled with inaccuracies and negative assumptions.
In an X post, Zhao criticized the publication’s portrayal of his alleged involvement with World Liberty Financial, the decentralized finance project backed by a business entity affiliated with US President Donald Trump. Trump’s sons — Eric and Donald Jr. —are involved in the management of the company.
Zhao said the WSJ article portrayed him as acting as a “fixer” for the WLF team and its co-founder Zach Witkoff during foreign trips.
The article suggested Zhao facilitated introductions and meetings for WLF leaders during foreign trips, including a visit to Pakistan that reportedly resulted in a memorandum of understanding with a local official.
“I am not a fixer for anyone,” Zhao said, firmly denying that he connected Pakistani official “Mr. Saqib” with WLF or organized any engagements abroad. “They had known each other way back, whereas I only met with Mr. Saqib for the first time in Pakistan.”
Crypto perp futures coming “very soon” to US: CFTC’s Mersinger
Outgoing Commodities and Futures Trading Commission Commissioner Summer Mersinger said on May 22 that the regulator could greenlight crypto perpetual futures contracts “very soon.”
“We’re seeing some applications, and I believe we’ll see some of those products trading live very soon,” she told Bloomberg TV, adding it would be “great to get that trading back onshore in the United States.”
Crypto perpetual futures are derivative contracts that allow traders to speculate, often with high leverage, on the price of a cryptocurrency without actually owning it and can be held indefinitely.
Mersinger, who will leave the CFTC at the end of May to join the crypto lobby group the Blockchain Association as CEO, said having crypto derivatives trading and regulated in the US would be a “really good thing for these markets and would be really beneficial to the industry broadly.”
