Is Trump, meme coin dinner an ethics breach? Plus: Shaq settles FTX lawsuit | Weekly Recap

Today’s edition of the weekly recap covers President Donald Trump’s planned dinner with top TRUMP token holders, Strategy’s continued Bitcoin acquisitions, and the new SEC chair’s pro-cryptocurrency stance.

Trump plans dinner with top meme coin holders

• President Donald Trump intends to host an “intimate private dinner” on May 22 at Trump National Golf Club near Washington for the top 220 holders of TRUMP (TRUMP). The top 25 coin holders will receive additional privileges, including a pre-dinner reception with the President and a White House tour.
• Organizers of the $TRUMP Gala Dinner have stated in a legal disclaimer that they may cancel or reschedule the event at their discretion. If Trump cannot attend or the event is canceled for any reason, qualified token holders may receive a limited-edition TRUMP NFT instead.
• Democrats argue that the dinner is an impeachable offense since Trump is essentially “granting audiences to people” who buy his meme coin, which directly enriches the Trump family.

New SEC chair criticizes previous leaders

• Recently sworn-in SEC Chair Paul Atkins delivered his first full address Friday and criticized the agency’s previous approach under former Chair Gary Gensler and the Biden administration. He stated that “innovation has unfortunately been stifled… due to market and regulatory uncertainty.”
• This is a common argument among crypto bulls. Gensler, during his tenure, felt that crypto didn’t need new rules — that most tokens were already unregistered securities, and existing law just needed to be enforced. Also, the crypto industry is plagued by scams and frequent collapses (i.e., FTX, Terra/Luna, Celsius, etc.). Retail investors lost billions of dollars.

SEC drops cases, delays ETF decisions

• The Trump administration’s SEC promptly continues to drop numerous lawsuits and investigations against crypto companies; the latest benefactor of this lenient stance is blockchain technology firm Dragonchain. Similarly, Coinbase, Gemini, Uniswa and Ripple also benefitted.
• The SEC also withdrew its fraud case against Richard Schueler (known as Richard Heart), founder of HEX, PulseChain, and PulseX.
• Meanwhile, the agency extended its timeline for reviewing applications that would enable the listing of exchange-traded funds tracking Polkadot (DOT) and Hedera (HBAR). The delay also affects a proposed ETF based on the combined performance of Bitcoin and Ethereum (ETH).

Strategy buys more Bitcoin, WazirX restarts trading

• Michael Saylor’s company, Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), purchased an additional 6,556 Bitcoin (BTC) for $555.8 million between April 14-20, according to Monday’s SEC filing. The firm paid an average price of $84,785 per Bitcoin; its holdings stand at 538,200 coins.
• The Indian cryptocurrency exchange WazirX is preparing to resume operations following a $230 million security breach. The court decision will address WazirX’s proposed restructuring and customer compensation plan.

Shaquille O’Neal settles with FTX investors

• The basketball legend known as Shaq has reached a settlement agreement with a group of FTX investors who had accused him of enabling the exchange’s fraud through his celebrity promotion. Details of the settlement terms were not disclosed.

Solana DEX faces class action over alleged rug pull

• Meteora, a prominent decentralized exchange on the Solana (SOL) blockchain, is facing a new class action lawsuit filed in New York.
• The legal action accuses the platform of engineering a $69 million “rug pull” connected to its M3M3 meme coin launch.

Sam Bankman-Fried transferred to California facility

• The Federal Bureau of Prisons has moved FTX co-founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried to the low-security Federal Correctional Institution Terminal Island in Los Angeles.
• This transfer follows a temporary stay at the medium-security facility in Victorville, California, known for its challenging conditions.

Canadian firm secures $500 million for Solana investment

• SOL Strategies has obtained a $500 million convertible note to buy Solana.

CME to launch XRP futures contracts

• The CME Group announced it will introduce XRP (XRP) futures on its derivatives marketplace for clients starting May 19.
• The new product will offer two contract sizes: a micro-sized contract of 2,500 XRP and a larger contract of 50,000 XRP.

Stripe developing stablecoin payment product

• The payments giant is working on a new stablecoin-based product, according to Stripe CEO Patrick Collison.
• Development will use Bridge, the stablecoin services unit Stripe acquired in October 2024 for $1.1 billion.