The New York Times reports:

Dressed in ball gowns, tuxedos and “Make Bitcoin Great Again” baseball caps, a crowd of some of the country’s most powerful cryptocurrency executives gathered a few blocks from the White House for a lavish party three days before President Trump’s inauguration, toasting an incoming administration that had vowed to promote the industry’s interests.

Even Snoop Dogg joined the festivities, offering a rendition of “Don’t Stop Believin.’”

But the crypto millionaires and billionaires were caught off guard by what happened next.

At 9 p.m. on Jan. 17, with the festivities in full swing, Mr. Trump announced on social media that he was launching a new cryptocurrency — a so-called memecoin known simply as $Trump.

The surprise disclosure raised fresh ethics and legal concerns about the ways in which Mr. Trump continues to cash in on his power and fame, in this case by marketing a digital asset in an inherently volatile and speculative market to millions of his followers.

And it set off a wave of criticism from inside the industry that he says he wants to champion.

Crypto executives criticized the move as a cash grab, saying that Mr. Trump had undercut the industry’s credibility at the very moment when proponents were seeking a more prominent place for digital currencies in mainstream finance and business.

His venture, they said, created a brief and highly publicized bubble that partly deflated within a few days even as Mr. Trump’s family and its business partners collected millions of dollars from fees on purchases and sales of the coin.

“It makes it all look corrupt and self-interested,” said Nic Carter, a vocal supporter of Mr. Trump who runs the crypto investment firm Castle Island Ventures and was at the Crypto Ball as the new $Trump coin was announced. [Continue reading…]