US President Donald Trump's meme coin "Trumpcoin" surged more than 60% on Wednesday after an announcement claiming to be "the most exclusive invitation in the world" promised that the first 220 buyers of Trump's coin $TRUMP will be invited to a private dinner with the president on May 22. According to the announcement, in addition to the dinner held at Trump National Golf Club in Washington, D.C., the top 25 holders will also receive "an ultra-exclusive private VIP reception with the president" and visit the White House the next day.
The announcement, posted on the $TRUMP coin promotion website, is the latest in a series of recent cryptocurrency-related attempts by Trump and his family, which have brought them hundreds of millions of dollars in fees alone. Trump family businesses include the newly established cryptocurrency exchange "World Liberty Financial" and the transformation of Trump Media Technology Group into the crypto-finance field - Trump holds a $3 billion stake in the social media company.
Trump has pledged to be the first “crypto president” in the U.S., and his administration has moved quickly to scale back crypto enforcement and loosen the regulatory framework for the industry. While the president leads the new regulatory system, his family’s aggressive move into crypto has raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest and rent-seeking.
Tony Calke, executive director of Accountable America, a nonpartisan government ethics watchdog, said Trump’s plan to dine with $TRUMP coin holders was “a bottom-line break in the president’s money-making methods.” “There has never been such a clear case of a president using his power to enrich himself, nor has there ever been such a huge potential risk of special interest groups buying into the favor of the administration and endangering the public interest.” White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly responded: “President Trump’s assets are held in trust funds managed by his children, and there is no conflict of interest.”
The token was launched before Trump’s inauguration on January 20, and the price rose to a high of $74.59 before falling to a low of $7.14 on April 7. Crypto analytics firm Chainalysis found that as of March 12, the token had generated at least $350 million in fees for entities associated with the president. Just last week, cryptocurrency observers expected $TRUMP to crash as 40 million new tokens were unlocked. But the token’s X-platform account said Wednesday that the unlock would be delayed for another 90 days.
The terms of the $TRUMP dinner invitation note that “President Trump may not be able to attend,” but the winner will receive a limited edition TRUMP NFT as an alternative.
Several senior administration officials said they were unaware of the dinner. After confirming that the event was indeed on the schedule, one official said Trump planned to attend and described it as an “outside business event.”
A spokesman for the White House Cryptography Office said the office was not associated with the invitation and declined to comment further.
Since taking office, Trump has regularly hosted dinners at his Florida resort, Mar-a-Lago, for donors who give $1 million or more to his super PAC. Hosting a dinner for Trumpcoin holders would more directly benefit the Trump family, especially if it boosts the coin’s value.
“When something like this happens, there’s always public suspicion that it could lead to potential conflicts and potential undisclosed transactions,” said Yuliya Guseva, director of the blockchain and fintech program at Rutgers University Law School.
An affiliate of the Trump Organization, the Trump family business, and a Delaware LLC called Fight Fight Fight own 80% of the token supply, according to the token’s website. The digital coin has generated hundreds of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency profits for Trump-affiliated entities, according to blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis.