Today in crypto, US-based spot Bitcoin ETFs posted a significant amount of inflows this week, US lawmakers have urged the Justice Department to investigate President Donald Trump's crypto dinner. Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao has pushed back reports linking him to World Liberty Financial.
Bitcoin ETFs post $2.75B in weekly inflows as price sits above $108K
US-based spot Bitcoin exchange-traded-funds (ETFs) have recorded a total of $2.75 billion in inflows this week amid Bitcoin surpassing its January all-time high of $109,000.
The $2.75 billion inflow total was nearly 4.5 times larger than the spot Bitcoin ETF’s previous week’s $608 million in inflows, according to Farside data.
On May 23, the final day of the trading week, spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $211.7 million in inflows. However, BlackRock’s IBIT was the only fund to post gains in the trading day, adding $430.8 million and extending its inflow streak to eight consecutive days.
Grayscale’s GBTC led outflows with $89.2 million, followed by ARK 21Shares’ ARKB with $73.9 million.
US House members call for investigation into Trump's memecoin dinner
Members of the US House of Representatives called for the Justice Department to investigate Donald Trump’s May 22 dinner for his top memecoin investors, citing concerns about “foreign influence over US policy decisions” and “potential corruption and emoluments clause violations.”
In a May 22 letter to the Justice Department, 35 House members asked the public integrity section acting chief, Edward Sullivan, to launch an inquiry over the memecoin dinner to determine whether it violated the federal bribery statute or the foreign emoluments clause of the US Constitution.
Under the emoluments clause, a US president is barred from accepting any gift from a foreign state without the approval of Congress. Bloomberg reported that a majority of the attendees at the memecoin dinner were likely foreign nationals based on their connections to crypto exchanges.
“US law prohibits foreign persons from contributing to US political campaigns,” said the letter. “However, the $TRUMP memecoin, including the promotion of a dinner promising exclusive access to the President, opens the door for foreign governments to buy influence with the President, all without disclosing their identities.”
The call for an investigation and a press conference asking Trump to “release the guest list” for the dinner both occurred hours before the event, which was held at the Trump National Golf Club outside Washington, DC. A group of protesters, joined by Senator Jeff Merkley, gathered outside the venue with signs stating “illegal crypto party” and “democracy is not for sale.”
CZ refutes claims in latest WSJ article on Trump-linked crypto dealings
Binance co-founder and former CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao has pushed back against a report in The Wall Street Journal, calling it a “hit piece” filled with inaccuracies and negative assumptions.
In an X post, Zhao criticized the publication’s portrayal of his alleged involvement with World Liberty Financial, the decentralized finance project backed by a business entity affiliated with US President Donald Trump. Trump’s sons — Eric and Donald Jr. —are involved in the management of the company.
Zhao said the WSJ article portrayed him as acting as a “fixer” for the WLF team and its co-founder Zach Witkoff during foreign trips.
The article suggested Zhao facilitated introductions and meetings for WLF leaders during foreign trips, including a visit to Pakistan that reportedly resulted in a memorandum of understanding with a local official.
“I am not a fixer for anyone,” Zhao said, firmly denying that he connected Pakistani official “Mr. Saqib” with WLF or organized any engagements abroad. “They had known each other way back, whereas I only met with Mr. Saqib for the first time in Pakistan.”
