Top-25 meme coin holders to enjoy private VIP reception with Trump
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Democratic lawmakers demand attendee names, citing foreign influence concerns
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Profits favor big investors, smaller wallets face significant losses
(Adds Democratic lawmakers outcry and more details on dinner)
By Michelle Conlin, Lawrence Delevingne and Trevor Hunnicutt
STERLING, Virginia, May 22 (Reuters) – Buyers of President Donald Trump´s meme coin converged from around the globe on Thursday for an exclusive dinner at his private country club, overlooking the Potomac River, just outside the nation´s capital.
With guests filing into the event, and President Trump arriving by Marine One helicopter, more than a hundred protesters at the Trump National Golf Club crowded along the edge of the parking lot along the street. Signs included, “America is not for sale,” “stop crypto corruption,” and “release the guest list.”
Among those in attendance is China-born crypto entrepreneur and billionaire Justin Sun, who posted a video of himself, underscored by triumphant music, entering the ballroom and dressed in a tux. Sun won first place in the dinner contest with his $18.5 million wallet, and is also the largest publicly known investor and an adviser to World Liberty Financial, the Trump family’s crypto platform, which has made them hundreds of millions of dollars.
On Wednesday, Sun also posted a video of himself visiting the Executive Office Building, part of the White House complex. In February, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission paused its 2023 fraud case against Sun, citing public interest.
Sun declined to comment but posted on X that he is “grateful for the invitation.” The SEC declined to comment.
In total, investors spent an estimated $148 million on the $TRUMP meme coin to secure their seats at the dinner, with the top-25 holders spending more than $111 million, according to crypto intelligence firm Inca Digital.
These top holders will enjoy a private VIP reception with Trump, and the four largest investors will also receive a limited edition Trump Tourbillon watch that sells for $100,000.
A company controlled by the Trump family and a second firm together hold 80% of the remaining supply of $TRUMP coins, and have so far earned $320.19 million in fees, including at least $1.35 million after the dinner announcement, according to blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis.
More than half of the 220 holders at the black-tie event are likely based outside the United States, according to blockchain analysis.
In response to criticisms about Trump using his office to enrich himself from the meme coin, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said Thursday: “All of the president’s assets are in a blind trust, which is managed by his children. And I would argue, one of the many reasons that the American people re-elected this president back to this office is because he was a very successful businessman before giving it up to publicly serve our country.”
She also said that, “The president is attending it in his personal time. It is not a White House dinner. It’s not taking place here at the White House.”
The Trump Organization did not respond to requests for comment.
Vincent Liu, chief investment officer of Taiwan-based crypto market maker Kronos Research, said he had hopes of networking with other top holders and even possibly meeting the president.
“That kind of access is rare, and it represents how digital assets are entering the mainstream.”
PRIVATE COCKTAIL RECEPTION
Sheldon Zia, founder of the Cayman Islands-based crypto exchange BitMart, posted on X that, as a top-25 holder, he was heading to not just the dinner but also to a private VIP cocktail reception before the dinner and a private VIP tour the following day.
An initial announcement said the 25 VIPs-the majority of their identities so far unknown-would tour the White House.
That detail has since been deleted from the $TRUMP meme website (www.gettrumpmemes.com).
There are also domestic Trump supporters such as Vincent Deriu, a 27-year-old New York consultant who said he already owns “many” Trump-branded watches, “a few pairs of” Trump sneakers, and “more than 50” Trump NFTs. Deriu will join the dinner on Thursday, for $116,000.
Senior Democratic members of the House and Senate held a press conference earlier Thursday to highlight what they describe as Trump´s corrupt crypto practices and to push for legislation that would ban such activities.
“Donald Trump´s dinner is an orgy of corruption,” said Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren. Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy noted the anonymity of attendees. “Reportedly, there´s going to be a guy there tonight called Ogle,” Murphy said. “That´s it. That´s all we know about this guy. He wears a mask all the time.”
When reached for comment by Reuters, Ogle, a crypto security specialist, said that he uses a pseudonym and appears in video interviews with his face obscured by a bandana and sunglasses to protect himself because of safety concerns related to his pro bono work, in which he says he has helped victims of crypto criminals recover more than half a billion dollars. Ogle said Murphy’s accusations were “misplaced.” “My motive for attending this dinner is very straightforward,” said Ogle, who also serves as an advisor to Trump’s cryptocurrency platform, World Liberty Financial. “I’m curious by nature, I believe it will be an historic moment, and I’m fortunate to have the opportunity to go.” Ogle came in at number 22 in the contest, and holds a total of $3.6 million worth of the $TRUMP coin.
Democratic lawmakers have introduced a flurry of bills aimed at ending the ability of presidents and members of Congress to own or oversee businesses that issue or promote crypto products. Given that Republicans have majority control of both the U.S. House and Senate, the Democratic Party has limited ability to pass legislation and call for public hearings or formal investigations.
Of all of the Trump family´s cascade of new crypto ventures – which now include a crypto exchange, a stablecoin, a bitcoin mining operation and digital asset ETFs – the meme coin has sparked particularly strident criticism from Democratic lawmakers and government watchdog groups, who have decried it as “a race to the bottom for presidential grifting.”
Now, even some Trump allies are starting to weigh in, with Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis, a robust and staunch crypto industry advocate, saying the dinner gives her “pause.”
Since the $TRUMP meme coin launched in January, the profits have favored big investors: more than 60 large wallets have profited close to $1.5 billion, with $48 million in profits occurring after Trump posted about the contest on social media, according to reviews by Inca Digital and crypto analytics tracker Bubblemaps, as of May 8.
Meanwhile, about 600,000 other smaller wallets have lost $3.87 billion so far, with $117 million of the losses occurring after the dinner announcement.
The event was set to cap off with an after-party, called “Meme The Night,” thrown by a Singapore-based meme-coin engagement company MemeCore.
MemeCore’s co-founder, who goes by the name Ice, traversed the planet to attend the dinner after spending more than $16 million to come in second place. (Additional reporting by Tom Wilson in London; Editing by Tom Lasseter, Muralikumar Anantharaman and Diane Craft)