Update (Oct. 17 at 3:41 pm UTC): This article has been updated to include a statement from a White House official.
US President Donald Trump hosted a dinner for companies pledging funds to build a new ballroom in the White House, with attendees including Gemini co-founders Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, and executives from Coinbase and Ripple.
According to a Wednesday Wall Street Journal report, among the donors and attendees of the dinner at the White House were the Winklevosses and representatives from Coinbase Global and Ripple Labs. The dinner was aimed at funding for the White House ballroom proposed by Trump in July, which was estimated to cost $250 million.
The ballroom is projected to add about 90,000 square feet — 8,361 square meters — to the White House. Cointelegraph reached out to Coinbase, Ripple, and Gemini for comment on the amount of the donations, but had not received a response at the time of publication. A White House official confirmed to Cointelegraph that The Wall Street Journal’s list of attendees was accurate.
The fundraising dinner came at the end of the 15th day of a US government shutdown, when many federal agencies are operating with limited staff and employees have been furloughed. As of Thursday, there have been no reports of a deal between Democrats and Republicans in Congress to pass a bill to continue to fund the government.
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Other attendees at the fundraising event included representatives from Meta, Google, Amazon, Lockheed Martin and Microsoft. Former Bakkt CEO Kelly Loeffler, currently working as the administrator of the Small Business Administration under Trump, attended as well.
Crypto companies deepening ties to administration, getting politically involved
Before the Wednesday fundraising dinner, representatives of crypto companies, including CEOs and executives, had visited lawmakers and regulators in Washington, D.C., as part of a push toward greater adoption of digital assets and blockchain.
During Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, the Winklevosses pledged $2 million in Bitcoin (BTC) to the then-candidate. The brothers have continued to be a presence in Washington and at the White House by attending a signing ceremony for the GENIUS stablecoin bill in July and donating $21 million to a pro-Trump political action committee before the 2026 midterms.
Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse and chief legal officer Stuart Alderoty have also developed close ties to the Trump administration since his election win. The pair met with the then-president-elect in November and attended inauguration events in January, with Ripple advertisements visible in metro stations across the city.
Garlinghouse also met with Trump and other industry leaders at a crypto summit at the White House in March.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has also been a consistent presence on Capitol Hill, meeting with US lawmakers to support the GENIUS Act and crypto market structure legislation. The crypto exchange also donated $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund, with Armstrong meeting with the president one-on-one in November.
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