Topline
President Donald Trump is hosting a dinner Thursday for top investors in his meme coin, throwing the event at the Trump National Golf Club outside Washington, D.C., for a mostly anonymous group of attendees who have collectively thrown hundreds of millions of dollars at the president’s controversial cryptocurrency.
Key Facts
The dinner revolves around the president’s $TRUMP token, which traded as high as $74.34 when it launched in January and fell to $14.44 on Thursday.
The top 220 investors in the token were invited to the dinner, with the top 25 holders invited to a pre-dinner reception and a tour, according to the $TRUMP website, though it did not specify what would be toured.
A protest formed in front of the golf club denouncing the dinner, with protest organizers calling it “corruption embodied.”
Tables featured “Fight Fight Fight” signs, while gift bags included black hats and plaques also highlighting the phrase, according to Bloomberg, citing photos from the event.
The dinner’s menu included salad, filet mignon, pan seared halibut and warm lava cake, according to a photo posted by an apparent guest.
Trump plans to be at his club for the dinner until around 8:30 p.m. EDT on Thursday, according to a schedule released by the White House, which noted the event is not open to the press.
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Big Number
$394 million. That is how much money the 220 guests spent on the president’s meme coin, according to NBC News, which cited blockchain analytics company Nansen. The average attendee spent $1.78 million on the cryptocurrency.
Who Is Attending Trump’s Meme Coin Dinner?
Not much is known about the event’s anonymous guest list, which can be seen through an investor leaderboard, but some attendees have publicly shared their selection for the dinner. Billionaire crypto investor Justin Sun, who has an estimated net worth of $8.5 billion, said in a post on X that he was the top holder of $TRUMP. Sun previously invested $75 million in Trump’s cryptocurrency company, World Liberty Financial. Nick Pinto, a 25-year-old market director for his family’s law firm, told CNBC he spent $500,000 on the Trump meme coin to secure a spot at the dinner.
How Has $trump Performed Since Launching?
Not well. The cryptocurrency has proven volatile, launching at $6.29 in January, rocketing to the $74 mark a day later and falling to a low of $7.57 in April, before shooting back up again after the announcement of the dinner was made on April 23. The coin traded at $14.38 as of 6 p.m. EDT, making for a $2.8 billion market cap.
What Have Lawmakers Said About Trump’s Meme Coin?
Democrats have blasted Trump for the cryptocurrency and denounced the dinner, with Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., equating the event to “putting a ‘for sale’ sign on the White House” and saying it is “auctioning off access” to the president. Blumenthal has floated a lawsuit against the president over foreign gifts or payments that he suggested could potentially be given through the event. Some Republicans have also voiced concern, including Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., said early this month the dinner “gives her pause, adding that though meme coins are legal, “what we need to do is have a regulatory framework that makes this more clear, so we don’t have this Wild West scenario.”
Key Background
Once a crypto critic, Trump campaigned as a cryptocurrency advocate last year and has since moved to ease restrictions on it. He signed an executive order in March establishing a national bitcoin reserve and launched his own cryptocurrency firm in World Liberty Financial, which the Trump family has a 60% stake in. Throughout his crypto endeavors, critics have accused Trump of using his role as president to boost his family businesses, which now includes World Liberty, his own meme coin and another meme coin for First Lady Melania Trump. World Liberty launched its own stablecoin yesterday on KuCoin, a crypto exchange that has been fined $300 million for money laundering and banned from the U.S.
Further Reading
Trump’s New Partner For Crypto Venture Is KuCoin — An Exchange Banned In U.S., Fined $300 Million For Money Laundering (Forbes)
How Trump’s Bitcoin Policies Are Making The U.S. A Crypto Superpower (Forbes)
