On Thursday, about 200 founders and investors tucked into seared sea bass and key lime pie at Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump's Palm Beach private club. The mood was celebratory, and the attendees talked about their hopes for a deregulatory boom in the nuclear and space industries. Each attendee received a black baseball cap emblazoned with the slogan "Make Nuclear Great Again," courtesy of one of the startups attending, Valar Atomics.

Meanwhile, in Washington, tech and media executives, crypto enthusiasts and conservative influencers prepared for a multiday jamboree ahead of Trump's inauguration on Monday. At a sold-out Crypto Ball on Friday night at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, attendees in black tie hobnobbed with David Sacks, Trump's crypto and artificial intelligence czar, and saw a musical performance by Snoop Dogg. And on Sunday night, X's Linda Yaccarino, Uber's Dara Khosrowshahi and The Free Press' Bari Weiss are scheduled to preside over a pre-inauguration party hosted by their companies.