By Michelle Conlin
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Buyers of President Trump’s meme coin are converging 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.
Among those who will be in attendance is China-born crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun, who won first place in the dinner contest with his $18.5 million wallet, and who 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 posted a video of himself visiting the Executive Office Building, next to the White House. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently 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.
The White House maintains that Trump’s assets are managed in a trust overseen by his children and that he has no role in operations.
The White House and 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 will arrive at the banquet with 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 is heading to not just the dinner but also 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.
Democratic lawmakers, who will hold a press conference on Thursday in protest against the dinner, have demanded the release of all attendees’ names, and issued a statement saying, “With foreign-linked wallets, untraceable transactions, and no press allowed, the event raises alarming questions about foreign influence, national security, and the growing corruption at the heart of Trump’s crypto empire.”
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.”
They say the coin allows the president to use an unregulated industry to enrich himself and court foreign influence by allowing anonymous foreign individuals to personally purchase access to Trump.
The White House has responded to such criticism in the past, with Anna Kelly, White House Deputy Press Secretary, telling Reuters: “President Trump’s assets are in a trust managed by his children. There are no conflicts of interest.”
But 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.
(With Tom Wilson in London and Lawrence Delevingne in Boston; Editing by Tom Lasseter and Muralikumar Anantharaman)
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