GD Culture Group’s massive crypto move raises ethical alarm as foreign interest in Trump-linked ventures intensifies
A little-known technology firm with Chinese ties has ignited a storm of controversy after announcing plans to spend up to $300 million on a cryptocurrency associated with US President Donald Trump, in a move that has raised fresh concerns over foreign influence and ethics in American politics.
GD Culture Group, a Nasdaq-listed company with only eight employees and no revenue last year, made the announcement this week, confirming that it would invest in a stockpile of Bitcoin and the $Trump meme coin. The company, which operates an e-commerce business through the Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok, said the funds would come from a stock sale to an unnamed entity based in the British Virgin Islands.
“Our intention is to enhance our balance sheet with high-performance, scalable digital assets,” the company stated in its official filing.
Meme coins like $Trump are typically digital currencies based on jokes or celebrity branding, often lacking utility beyond speculative trading. Yet GD Culture Group’s investment would mark the first known example of a China-linked company making such a large-scale purchase of the Trump-branded coin — a move that has alarmed ethics watchdogs in Washington.
“Make no mistake. These foreign entities and governments obviously want to curry favour with the president,” said former Representative Charles Dent, a Pennsylvania Republican who once chaired the House Ethics Committee. “This is completely out of bounds and raises all sorts of ethical, legal and constitutional issues that must be addressed.”
The firm’s announcement confirmed that its $300 million acquisition plan was disclosed in a securities filing late Tuesday, even as its stock surged 12% following the news before quickly losing those gains the next day.
The transaction comes at a particularly sensitive time. President Trump is currently engaged in negotiations over a potential congressional ban on TikTok, raising concerns that any financial benefit to the Trump family from a TikTok-reliant firm could present a glaring conflict of interest. GD Culture Group, which owns a Chinese subsidiary called Shanghai Xianzhui, previously acknowledged in filings that it could be subject to interference from the Chinese government.
“The Chinese government may intervene or influence its operations at any time,” the company stated in its March annual report.
This revelation has only intensified scrutiny on Trump’s crypto dealings. Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut took to the Senate floor on Tuesday, outlining what he called “an avalanche of overseas money” flowing into Trump’s business empire — from real estate deals involving the Qatari government to a separate $2 billion crypto transaction backed by the United Arab Emirates.
“If a mayor of a small town was selling meetings at City Hall for a thousand bucks, he would be run out of town on a rail, but that’s exactly what Donald Trump is doing in the Middle East and all over the world,” Murphy said.
Since its launch three days before Trump’s inauguration, the $Trump coin has attracted widespread attention and controversy. After a brief surge in value, the token suffered a dramatic crash that reportedly wiped out billions in investor funds.
Last month, Trump’s team announced that the top 220 buyers of the coin would be invited to a private dinner at his Virginia golf club — a promotional move that triggered another flurry of trading and further enriched the Trump family. Analysis by The New York Times and crypto forensics firm Nansen showed that many of the top purchasers were located overseas, in countries such as Singapore, Mexico, and Australia.
While federal law prohibits foreign nationals from contributing to a political campaign or a presidential inaugural fund, critics argue that crypto ventures like $Trump offer a murky and unregulated channel for foreign interests to financially benefit a sitting president.
Neither GD Culture Group, the Trump Organization, nor the White House responded to requests for comment.
