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TRUMP Coin’s Biggest Critics Are Crypto Industry Insiders

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Among the most vocal critics of TRUMP, the controversial and wildly popular memecoin launched by Donald Trump on the eve of his 2025 inauguration, are the very crypto enthusiasts he may have hoped to court.

The TRUMP coin, launched on Jan. 17, saw a dramatic price surge, climbing from $7 to an all-time high of $75 within 24 hours before settling at $38. Two days after TRUMP’s debut, MELANIA, a coin endorsed by First Lady Melania Trump, entered the market. Unlike its predecessor, MELANIA has struggled, starting around $7 and plummeting below $4 after a briefly peaking at $14.

While both tokens’ volatile trajectories appear to have minted some overnight millionaires, they have also drawn sharp criticism from industry insiders.

The potential for conflicts of interest has been a focal point of the backlash, with critics — including members of the U.S. congress — raising concerns that the token could enable individuals to curry favor with the president.

Anthony Scaramucci, a former White House communications director turned crypto advocate, voiced his apprehensions on X (formerly Twitter): “The most perilous aspect of Trump coin for the nation is what follows. Now, anyone globally can effectively deposit money into the bank account of the President of the United States with just a few clicks. Every favor—be it geopolitical, corporate, or personal—is now openly for sale.”

The decision to launch a memecoin has also sparked broader criticism within the crypto industry. While memecoins have become a prominent use-case for blockchain technology, many developers argue they reinforce a get-rich-quick perception that undermines the sector’s credibility.

Gabor Gurbacs, founder of digital asset firm Pointsville, posted on X: “Trump needs to dismiss his crypto advisors, from top to bottom.”

Nic Carter, a general partner at a crypto investment firm and a vocal Trump supporter, was similarly scathing: “It’s absolutely preposterous that he would do this,» he told Politico. “They’re plumbing new depths of idiocy with the memecoin launch.”

Specific concerns have been raised about the coin’s distribution. 80% of TRUMP tokens are concentrated in a small number of blockchain addresses controlled by CNC Digital, the firm that launched the coin. Such concentration is a hallmark of potential «pump-and-dump» schemes, where insiders inflate a token’s value before selling off their holdings, leaving other investors with losses.

There’s no evidence that Trump’s team plans to «dump» its tokens. Nicolas Vaiman, CEO of blockchain analytics firm Bubblemaps, noted to CoinDesk that the distribution of TRUMP tokens at least matched what was outlined on its official website. Additionally, the insider-held tokens align with prior distributions of Trump’s NFT trading cards, which were also managed by CNC Digital, meaning the tokens may be reserved for the president’s NFT holders.

The same transparency does not apply to MELANIA, however. About 89% of MELANIA tokens are controlled by insiders, according to Bubblemaps. The on-chain supply does not match an official distribution breakdown on the token’s website, which earmarked 35% of tokens for «public distribution» and «community.»

Vaiman said the First Lady’s memecoin has cast a shadow over the original TRUMP coin: “TRUMP could have been a statement from President Trump saying, ‘I endorse crypto,’” Vaiman said. “Melania launching her tokens feels like they just want to make as much money as they can on this, and then forget about it. It gives this a different flavor.”

This is not the first time the crypto community has questioned Trump’s forays into the industry. In August, Trump and his sons launched World Liberty Financial (WLFI), a platform that promised to develop a lending product. The project drew backlash for pre-selling tokens before delivering any tangible value, and critics were quick to point out the involvement of a former dating coach and memecoin promoter on the WLFI team, as well as the allocation of a percentage of presale proceeds directly to a Trump-controlled company.

The conflict-of-interest potential was also immediately apparent. Tron blockchain-founder Justin Sun recently became WLFI’s largest investor, making a $30 million purchase of the project’s tokens. In an X post on Tuesday, Donald Trump Jr. announced that World Liberty Financial would acquire some of Tron’s TRX tokens for its treasury.

A Hong Kong-based crypto billionaire, Sun was previously charged with fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission — a department now under the control of Trump’s White House.

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Crypto Market Maker Wintermute Snags Bitcoin Credit Line From Cantor Fitzgerald

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Wintermute, a digital assets-focused market maker and OTC desk, has attained a bitcoin(BTC)-backed credit line from Cantor Fitzgerald, following similar financing deals announced last month with Maple Finance and FalconX.

Cantor said the newly launched Bitcoin Financing Business is expected to provide up to $2 billion in financing during its initial rollout. The size of Wintermute’s deal with the investment bank was not disclosed.

The lending and borrowing of crypto was taking place on an industrial scale several years back, but many of the firms involved either incurred heavy losses or were forced into bankruptcy as contagion spread through the industry. But Cantor’s debut perhaps signals a new and more institution-friendly phase.

Wintermute is currently expanding its presence in the U.S., where a groundswell of movement is happening in crypto trading under Donald Trump’s pro-innovation administration.

Institutional demand for digital assets such as bitcoin, stablecoins, and select high beta altcoins continues to accelerate, driven by catalysts such as ETF developments and shifts in interest rate environments, said Wintermute CEO Evgeny Gaevoy.

“Given the capital intensive nature of our operations, especially OTC trading, which involves managing settlement windows and maintaining capital across multiple venues, the facility enhances our ability to hedge risks effectively across exchanges and maintain broad market coverage,” Gaevoy said in an email.

Read more: Wall Street Giant Cantor Debuts Bitcoin Lending Business With First Tranches to FalconX, Maple

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BlackRock’s Spot Bitcoin ETF Snaps Four-Week Downtrend in Volumes

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BlackRock’s spot bitcoin (BTC) exchange-traded fund (ETF) listed on Nasdaq under the ticker IBIT rose 3.49% last week, snapping a four-week downtrend in trading volumes.

A total of 210.02 million shares changed hands in the week ended June 27, registering a 22.2% growth from the preceding week’s volume tally of 171.74 million shares, according to data source TradingView. That’s the first weekly growth since the third week of May.

The renewed upswing in volume comes amid continued demand for the ETF. Last week, IBIT registered a net inflow of $1.31 billion, following the preceding week’s tally of $1.23 billion. The largest publicly listed fund has amassed $3.74 billion in investor money this month, according to data source SoSoValue.

The 11 spot ETFs listed in the U.S. have collectively registered a net inflow of over $4 billion this month, marking the third consecutive monthly inflow.

IBIT's weekly chart with trading volumes. (TradingView/CoinDesk)

The chart shows that IBIT has formed a bull flag, mimicking the bullish continuation pattern on the spot BTC price chart.

A breakout, if confirmed, would signal an extension of the bull run from early April lows near $42.98.

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Bhutan Bets on Binance Pay to Power Crypto-Backed Tourism Economy

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Bhutan is going full tilt on crypto — not just to modernize its financial rails, but to attract high-value global travelers and build a digitally resilient economy.

At the Digital Bhutan panel, co-hosted by Binance, officials laid out a clear vision: bring crypto out of theory and into everyday life.

“Tourists complain they can’t use SWIFT or pay easily. Binance Pay fixes that,” said Damcho Rinzin, director of the department of tourism. Rinzin added that travelers are already using crypto to buy local goods — in one case, even groceries to cook their own meals.

Bhutan’s ambitions remain modest, just 300,000 visitors a year. But it wants them to stay longer and spend more — with Binance Pay’s 40 million plus user base as a lever. Binance CEO Richard Teng framed it as a shift from speculation to infrastructure.

“This is the first national crypto payments system,” Teng said. “The average crypto tourist spends $1,000 — nearly three times a regular tourist — and merchants receive instant settlements,” he added.

With over 1,000 merchants onboarded, and zero fees on Binance Pay compared to steep charges from other providers, Bhutan hopes to build a community-driven, tech-savvy ecosystem that aligns with its values. DK Bank, which played a pioneering role in Bhutan’s early bitcoin mining efforts, is now spearheading crypto adoption on the ground.

“Mobile and QR payments are already high,” said the bank’s CEO, Ugyen Tenzin said. “Crypto just fits,» he added.

«And this is just the start,» said Hobeng Lim, managing director of finance at Gelephu Mindfulness City. Gelephu Mindfulness City is a planned city in the country which merges technology, like blockchain, with culture, and sustainability.,

Lim added that they are many more blockchain-native projects in the pipeline, with digital assets formally recognized as a future growth engine.

“Crypto is not a side experiment, It’s a core industry,” Lim said.

Read more: Bhutan’s Crypto Reserve Could Pave Way for Economic Growth in Other Countries

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