Crypto, corruption, and the White House

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Trump’s memecoin gala dinner faces backlash, impeachment threats, and UAE crypto deal scrutiny

Key points:

• President Trump has planned a May 22 gala dinner for top holders of the TRUMP memecoin, drawing bipartisan criticism.

• Lawmakers allege pay-for-access behavior, with some calling for impeachment amid scrutiny over a $2B UAE crypto deal involving USD1.

News - President Donald Trump has announced a May 22 gala dinner for the top 220 holders of his Official Trump (TRUMP) memecoin—a move that has triggered a wave of bipartisan backlash and even calls for impeachment. The initiative, unveiled via Truth Social on May 5, has been denounced by lawmakers as a blatant example of selling presidential access.

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren and California Senator Adam Schiff expressed national security concerns tied to a $2 billion investment deal between Abu Dhabi-based MGX and Binance, which was settled using the Trump-backed stablecoin USD1. They claim the arrangement resembles a “crypto-for-access” operation, with Warren warning that pro-crypto legislation could facilitate such corruption.

Senator Jon Ossoff took it a step further, labeling the gala as grounds for impeachment, stating, “When the sitting president of the United States is selling access for what are effectively payments directly to him. There is no question that that rises to the level of an impeachable offense.”

Conflicting claims over profits and ownership - Trump has denied personally profiting from the memecoin, despite on-chain data showing large token holdings managed by CIC Digital LLC and Fight Fight Fight LLC—both linked to the Trump Organization. While Trump claimed in a recent interview he “hasn’t even looked” at the token’s performance, reports suggest millions have already been generated through fees and token sales.

What’s next? - As Trump doubles down on his pro-crypto stance, the event raises serious ethical and legal questions about presidential involvement in crypto projects. The SEC and Congressional watchdogs may face renewed pressure to investigate, especially if the USD1 stablecoin continues gaining adoption in high-profile deals.

Saylor’s Strategy slows Bitcoin buying as price nears $100K; Semler doubles down

Key points:

• Strategy acquired 1,895 BTC for $180.3M last week, a sharp drop from its previous 15,355 BTC buy.

• Semler Scientific ramped up its purchases, adding 167 BTC worth $16.2M at a higher average price.

News - Michael Saylor’s Bitcoin-heavy firm Strategy tapped the brakes on BTC buying last week, just as the cryptocurrency flirted with the $100,000 milestone. From April 28 to May 4, Strategy acquired 1,895 BTC for $180.3 million—marking an 87% drop from the 15,355 BTC it bought the week before, according to a new SEC filing. This is one of the company’s smallest purchases this year.

Despite the slowdown, Strategy’s total BTC stack has climbed to 555,450 BTC, purchased for over $38 billion at an average cost of $68,550 per coin. As of May 1, the firm reported a year-to-date gain of $5.8 billion, nearing its $10B annual target.

Semler keeps buying at higher levels - In contrast, U.S. healthtech firm Semler Scientific increased its BTC exposure. From April 30 to May 2, the company added 167 BTC for $16.2 million at an average price of $97,093—up 50% from its previous purchase. Semler now holds 3,634 BTC bought for $322.3 million, mostly funded through stock sales.

BTC nears decision point - These acquisitions come as Bitcoin faces heavy resistance at $98,000. Glassnode data shows 86% of BTC supply is now in profit—typically a bullish phase, but also one prone to profit-taking. Analysts warn that BTC must close above $95,000 on the daily chart to continue its push toward $100,000. Spot ETF demand remains strong, with $1.8 billion in inflows last week providing a potential tailwind.

Vitalik Buterin outlines bold vision to simplify Ethereum and secure rollups

Key points:

• Vitalik Buterin proposed replacing Ethereum’s EVM with a simpler architecture like RISC-V to reduce complexity and enhance performance.

• He also emphasized that Ethereum rollups should decentralize only once their proof systems are secure enough to outweigh centralization risks.

News - Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has laid out a sweeping roadmap to make Ethereum as “beautifully simple” as Bitcoin, while cautioning developers of rollup-based scaling solutions not to rush decentralization efforts. In two recent posts, Buterin highlighted Ethereum’s growing protocol complexity and the fragility of premature rollup decentralization.

Ethereum’s complexity problem: A call for simplification - In a May 3 blog post, Buterin stressed that Ethereum’s consensus-critical codebase has become too convoluted, posing risks to maintainability, onboarding, and overall system robustness. He advocated replacing the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) with a simpler, RISC-V-based virtual machine that could improve zero-knowledge proof performance and reduce long-term upgrade friction.

Buterin proposed a phased rollout where the current EVM would coexist with the new system to preserve backward compatibility, minimizing disruption to existing applications.

Rollups must mature before going fully decentralized - Separately, Buterin weighed in on the debate around rollup decentralization timelines. He argued that layer-2 rollups should only decentralize when their on-chain proof systems are so secure that centralized control becomes the bigger risk.

Buterin supported the idea of a “BattleTested” badge for rollups that have consistently held over $100 million in assets without vulnerabilities for at least six months. He emphasized that decentralization should follow real-world resilience, not just ideological benchmarks.

Balancing ideology with practical security - As Ethereum continues evolving, Buterin’s message is clear: focus on simplicity, structural soundness, and provable security over buzzwords and rushed decentralization. His vision reflects a maturing ecosystem—one that’s aiming for long-term reliability rather than short-term milestones.

Solana fixes critical token bug, but faces centralization backlash

Key points:

• Solana patched a zero-day vulnerability on April 18 that could have allowed unlimited minting and unauthorized withdrawals of Token-22 confidential tokens.

• The fix, coordinated privately with validators, sparked community concerns over Solana’s decentralization model.

News - Solana developers have patched a critical vulnerability that could have allowed attackers to mint unlimited Token-22 confidential tokens or withdraw them from user accounts. The zero-day flaw, discovered on April 16, was fixed two days later through a discreet rollout to validator operators.

The issue was rooted in the ZK ElGamal Proof program, which validates zero-knowledge proofs used in Solana’s privacy-enabled Token-22 transfers. Engineers discovered that certain algebraic components were excluded from the Fiat-Shamir hashing process—opening the door for forged proofs to pass as legitimate. While no exploits were reported, the bug theoretically gave bad actors the ability to create or steal confidential tokens.

Teams from Anza, Firedancer, Jito, and external security auditors like OtterSec and Neodyme reviewed and confirmed the patch. The foundation stated that all funds remain safe and that no updates were required for Solana's broader Token-2022 program.

Patch prompted centralization criticism - Despite the swift fix, Solana’s quiet coordination with validators drew backlash from some in the crypto community. Critics argue that such private validator collaboration contradicts decentralization ideals, with concerns over validator collusion and lack of transparency.

Solana Labs CEO Anatoly Yakovenko defended the strategy, noting that Ethereum’s validator ecosystem is also heavily concentrated. He added that if a similar bug occurred in Ethereum’s main client, developers would likely coordinate in the same way.

Still, Ethereum community members pointed out that Ethereum maintains client diversity, reducing reliance on any single codebase. In contrast, Solana currently operates with just one production-grade client, making bugs in that client equivalent to protocol-level vulnerabilities. A second client, Firedancer, is expected to launch later this year to mitigate this risk.

What’s next? - While the crisis was averted, the episode highlights the trade-offs between agility and decentralization in blockchain governance. The Solana Foundation emphasized that coordination doesn't equal centralization—but whether the broader community agrees remains to be seen.

More stories from the crypto ecosystem

• A 5% dip for TRON’s price? Weak demand may lead to…

• Ethereum eyes $2,000: Why May could be ETH’s best month yet

• The BNB setup you can’t ignore! – DEX volume surge and a looming bear trap

• Senate showdown puts Trump’s crypto bill on the brink as Democrats revolt

• XRP price prediction: Identifying key targets after $2.30 rejection

Did you know?

• Over 16,400 cryptocurrencies exist today, but the market remains highly concentrated. As of today, Bitcoin and Ethereum together account for approximately 69% of the total cryptocurrency market capitalization, highlighting their dominant positions in the crypto space. 

• Quantum computing poses a significant threat to current cryptographic systems. Advancements in quantum processors, like Google's 105-qubit Willow chip, have the potential to break widely-used encryption methods such as RSA and ECC. This has accelerated efforts to develop and standardize post-quantum cryptography to safeguard digital assets and communications.

• Ethereum processes over 1.2 million transactions daily, surpassing Bitcoin's average by a substantial margin. This high transaction volume underscores Ethereum's extensive use in decentralized applications, smart contracts, and token exchanges.

Top 3 coins of the day

Sui (SUI)

Key points:

• SUI jumped 5.05% to trade at $3.44, bouncing back after a brief cooldown from last week’s rally.

• The MACD stayed bullish but showed narrowing histogram bars, indicating that upside momentum may be slowing.

What you should know:

SUI clawed its way back above $3.40, posting a 5.05% gain as investor interest re-emerged following a sharp pullback from April’s local highs. This rebound came just days after ETF news broke, with 21Shares filing for a SUI-based ETF in the U.S.—a catalyst that reignited bullish sentiment in the token’s favor. Additionally, a surge in Sui-based DeFi activity and a record $304M in ecosystem value have helped support recent price action. The MACD indicator maintained a bullish crossover, but the histogram bars continued to shrink, suggesting a possible tapering of upward strength. Meanwhile, SUI remained close to the upper Bollinger Band range, hinting at some overhead resistance around the $3.50–$3.70 zone. Volume held steady, showing that traders have not exited the market despite last week’s volatility. Should bullish momentum persist, a retest of the $3.95–$4.20 resistance range could follow. On the downside, the mid-Bollinger Band near $3.00 acts as a strong support zone to watch in case of renewed selling pressure.

Bonk (BONK)

Key points:

• BONK traded at $0.00001679 after a 2.19% uptick, recovering slightly following last week’s correction.

• The RSI hovered near 54, signaling a neutral-to-slightly-bullish sentiment.

What you should know:

BONK staged a mild recovery on, rising 2.19% to close near $0.00001679 after a multi-day pullback from its local high. This rebound followed a recent surge in trading activity and renewed investor interest tied to BONK’s expanding ecosystem on Solana. A notable catalyst was the launch of a new token issuance platform that reportedly attracted $800K in just three days—highlighting increased utility and demand within BONK’s memecoin community. From a technical lens, BONK hovered just under its 9-day SMA, hinting at a resistance level traders were watching closely. The Relative Strength Index cooled off from its overbought levels last week and stood at 54.14, suggesting that the market had neutralized some of its earlier momentum. Despite the retracement, BONK’s volume remained elevated compared to its March average, indicating continued trader interest. If bullish momentum continues, BONK could test resistance around $0.00001850–$0.00002000. However, a failure to reclaim the 9-day SMA could send prices retesting support near the $0.00001550 zone.

Toncoin (TON)

Key points:

• TON fell by 1.09% to $2.98 as bears maintained short-term control.

• The RSI slipped to 41.7, reflecting weakening momentum and limited buyer strength.

What you should know:

Toncoin struggled to regain upside traction, dipping by 1.09% to $2.98 after facing steady selling pressure over the past week. Despite earlier optimism in April, recent data pointing to a decline in active TON addresses dampened sentiment, suggesting waning network engagement may be contributing to bearish momentum. The Parabolic SAR placed its dots above the candlesticks, reinforcing the presence of a downtrend. Meanwhile, the Relative Strength Index trended below the neutral 50 zone, sitting around 41.7—indicating that sellers were slowly gaining the upper hand while bulls remained cautious. Volume levels also declined slightly, supporting the idea of weak follow-through from buyers. TON now faces a crucial support zone near $2.80. A breakdown below this level could invite further losses, while a reversal would require reclaiming the $3.20–$3.40 resistance region to validate any renewed bullish interest.