Crypto
Protesters Hold "America Is Not For Sale" Rally Outside Trump National Golf Club
US Sen. Jeff Merkley participated in a protest outside Trump National Golf Club while President Trump hosted a dinner for his top meme coin holders (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

About last night’s $TRUMP dinner: Protestors, $100,000 watches, and excited attendees

Donald Trump arrived by helicopter to greet the top holders of his meme coin but didn’t stay long.

Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy

Last evening, President Trump held the much-hyped and controversial dinner at the Trump National Golf Club for the top 220 holders of the trump token.

The top 25 holders (two of whom Sherwood News spoke with before the event) were also rewarded with “an ultra-exclusive private VIP reception with the President” and a “Special Tour.”

Attendees, who in total contributed $148 million to attend the dinner, were greeted by protestors including Sen. Jeff Merkley screaming “shame, shame” and “America’s not for sale.”

Speaking of attendees, Tron’s Justin Sun, the top $TRUMP holder, narrated the event with multiple X posts, including videos and pictures of the dinner.  

Sun, born in China, is also a citizen of Grenada, and is no stranger to Trump’s crypto projects — he’s World Liberty Financial’s largest single investor as well.

He reiterated how “excited” he was and posted a string of “thank you” to Trump on X, revealing that he had been awarded a “Trump Golden Tourbillon watch by Trump.” The gold watch, “decorated with 122 diamonds,” is worth $100,000 according to the website. One assumes this watch had Trump spelled correctly, as opposed to some of the lowly $640 versions. 

Pseudonymous Ice, founder of MemeCore, second on the $TRUMP leaderboard, also posted pictures of himself leaving the party, “ready for the night,” with a meme-based mask which he kept on through much of the event. He also seems to have gotten a watch. 

MemeCore Chief Business Development Officer Cherry Hsu told Sherwood that his attendance was not “tied to any political agenda,” but was to represent “the power of memes.”

Ogle, pseudonymous cofounder of blockchain ecosystem Glue and a cybersecurity adviser to WLFI, who told Sherwood he was attending out of curiosity, posted a picture of Trump with the caption, “An historic evening for crypto and the USA.”

Other attendees included retired NBA star Lamar Odom, who posted a video of himself arriving at the dinner, saying he was “fired up.” He also plugged the meme coin he launched earlier this month, $ODOM, which “stands for sobriety, discipline, and rebirth.”

Additional guests posting pictures included Magic Eden CEO Jack Lu and BitMart CEO Sheldon Xia.

Trump arrived in a helicopter, gave a 15-minute speech, “barely spoke to attendees,” and “promptly left at the conclusion of his remarks,” according to NBC News.

“We have some of the smartest minds anywhere in the world right here in this room,” he told the audience. 

The menu included an organic field green salad, filet mignon, pan-seared halibut, and lava cake. It seems attendees also received a hat.

The $TRUMP token, launched on the eve of the inauguration, is down over 72% from its all-time high on January 19.

More Crypto

See all Crypto
Sage D. Young
9h
Hyperliquid is the “1,000 pound gorilla in the room” leading year-to-date market gains amid conflict in the Middle East

While the crypto industry has shed $564.3 billion in 2026, Hyperliquid’s native token has bucked the downtrend and jumped 54.8% year to date.

Gorilla
Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy
13h
Bitcoin tumbles as oil and gas prices spike and the market’s mood turns risk-off

Bitcoin ETFs reverted to outflows and bitcoin suffered $192 million in liquidations in the past 24 hours.

A Bitcoin ATM in Hong Kong...
crypto
Sage D. Young

Payward, parent company of crypto exchange Kraken, puts plans for IPO on hold

Payward, crypto exchange Kraken’s parent company, has paused its plans for an initial public offering until market conditions improve, according to a report from CoinDesk that cited two people with knowledge of the matter. 

Since the firm announced in November its preparation for an IPO of its common stock, the total market capitalization of the crypto industry has shed around $652.2 billion, from $3.2 trillion to $2.5 trillion as of Wednesday, data from CoinGecko shows. 

The news comes two weeks after Kraken received approval for a master account from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, allowing the crypto exchange to connect to the Fed’s payment infrastructure used by traditional banks and credit unions. 

Last year, Kraken raised $800 million at a $20 billion valuation from institutional investors such as Jane Street and Citadel Securities.

Payward, parent of crypto exchange Kraken, has put its IPO plans on hold

Payward, parent of crypto exchange Kraken, has put its IPO plans on hold

The news comes two weeks after Kraken received approval for a master account from the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, allowing the crypto exchange to connect to the Fed’s payment infrastructure used by traditional banks and credit unions. 

Last year, Kraken raised $800 million at a $20 billion valuation from institutional investors such as Jane Street and Citadel Securities.

crypto
Sage D. Young

SEC and CFTC issue new guidance on how securities laws apply to crypto assets

On Tuesday, the US Securities and Exchange Commission, together with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, issued an interpretation clarifying how federal securities law applies to crypto assets, a first step toward developing a clearer regulatory framework. 

The interpretive guidance introduces a token taxonomy for different types of cryptocurrencies, with SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins adding that “most crypto assets are not themselves securities.”

Examples of a digital commodity, “a crypto asset that is intrinsically linked to and derives its value from the programmatic operation of a crypto system that is ‘functional,’” include:

The guidance also includes definitions of digital collectibles (such as NFTs), stablecoins, digital tools, and digital securities (such as tokenized real-world assets and stocks).

This is a monumental step in the mainstream adoption of the industry and clears a hurdle in how crypto can operate going forward, according to David Pakman, head of venture investments at CoinFund. “This will allow new token designs with the confidence that their existence does not require registration with the SEC, etc.,” Pakman told Sherwood News.

Despite the clarification efforts from the two organizations, the market capitalization of the crypto industry has dropped about 2% in the last 24 hours as each of the tokens mentioned in the guidance are trading lower in the period, data from CoinGecko shows.

The joint agency action also complements congressional efforts to turn a crypto market structure framework into law. With the goal of providing regulations on the offer and sale of digital commodities, the CLARITY Act passed the House of Representatives last year and is now sitting in the Senate.

Yaël Bizouati-Kennedy
3/18/26
Citi analysts cut 12-month bitcoin projection to $112,000 from $143,000

The analysts’ bear-case scenario is $57,537, based on “recessionary macro-factors, especially weak equity markets,” which could cause ETF flows to stall.

Bitcoin ice carving

Latest Stories

Sherwood Media, LLC produces fresh and unique perspectives on topical financial news and is a fully owned subsidiary of Robinhood Markets, Inc., and any views expressed here do not necessarily reflect the views of any other Robinhood affiliate, including Robinhood Markets, Inc., Robinhood Financial LLC, Robinhood Securities, LLC, Robinhood Crypto, LLC, Robinhood Derivatives, LLC, or Robinhood Money, LLC. Futures and event contracts are offered through Robinhood Derivatives, LLC.
©2026 Sherwood Media, LLC