President Trump is hosting an exclusive dinner tonight at his Trump National Golf Club near Washington, D.C., with a unique guest list: 220 of the largest investors in his $TRUMP meme coin, whose current or previous holdings of the cryptocurrency earned them a seat at the table.
It's an event where the murky world of cryptocurrencies collides with questions of presidential ethics.
Here are three key things to know about the president's meme coin, Thursday's dinner and what it all might mean.
What is $TRUMP?
Days before the inauguration, the president launched $TRUMP, which surged to a $27 billion market cap within hours – valuing the president's personal stake at more than $20 billion. Its price peaked at more than $74 before plummeting. Since hitting a low in April, it has recovered some of its losses, making back much of it in the last month as the $TRUMP dinner was hyped.
In a Bitcoin World editorial about the meme coin dinner, the publication said that the timing of the latest spike suggests that "access to a high-profiled political figure and event acted as a powerful catalyst."
Meme coins are cryptocurrencies inspired by internet memes or viral trends — or in this case, a U.S. president. They are typically created for entertainment or speculative purposes and are driven mostly by hype. As speculation, they tend to enrich early investors who are able to dump their coins before their value crashes.
Like Bitcoin, meme coins, sometimes called meme tokens, use blockchain technology, but usually lack a clear use case and underlying value.
"Meme coins aren't investments. I wouldn't even call them speculative. They're riskier than the dog track," according to Michael Lee, the founder of Michael Lee Strategy, a wealth planning and investment management firm.
Lee describes himself as "a full red-blooded Trump supporter" and calls the original cryptocurrency Bitcoin "digital gold." But as an investor, he says he wouldn't touch $TRUMP.
"This isn't even casino-level risk," he said. "In a casino, at least there's odds."
CIC Digital LLC, an affiliate of The Trump Organization, and Fight Fight Fight LLC collectively own about 80% of the total supply of one billion $TRUMP tokens, according to GetTrumpMemes.com, the official website.
Who is attending the $TRUMP dinner?
Of the 220 investors planning to attend, all but a very few have only been identified by their "crypto wallet address" online handles.
"There's been a lot of speculation about who might hold them and who might not," Politico reporter Declan Harty told NPR recently. "But from those folks who are talking about their plans to attend the dinner, they are mostly cryptocurrency believers and hoping to really get an audience with the president."
Like Chinese-born crypto-investor Justin Sun, the founder of the blockchain-based operating platform TRON. Sun announced on X that he is the top holder of $TRUMP and will therefore be on the list for the dinner and the private White House tour.
"Honored to support @POTUS and grateful for the invitation from @GetTrumpMemes to attend President Trump's Gala Dinner as his TOP fan!" he wrote.
In 2023, Sun was charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission for the unregistered sale of his cryptocurrencies, for artificially inflating their trading volume, as well as concealing payments to celebrity endorsers to promote them, according to the SEC. As of February, the SEC case was still pending, according to Reuters.
But Sun is perhaps best known to the general public for another purchase he made last year at a New York auction. The tech mogul bought a $6.2 million banana stuck to a wall with duct tape — a conceptual work by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan. Sun subsequently ate the banana, bragging about it on social media.
After Sun, MemeCore, a Singapore-based crypto network, ranks second. Like Sun, MemeCore made no secret of its quest for the No. 1 slot, posting on X earlier this month that "We're not just aiming for #1 in the $TRUMP leaderboard – we're here to conquer the entire meme space."
Wintermute, a London-based crypto market-making firm, reportedly comes in at #3, according to BitCoin World. NPR reached out to the company to confirm its holdings, but did not receive an immediate reply.
What are the ethical implications?
Norm Eisen is a former ambassador who was an ethics advisor to former President Barack Obama and now serves as the executive chair of Democracy Defenders Action.
Citing the Emoluments Clause, the constitutional provision that bars federal officials from accepting gifts, payments, or other benefits from foreign governments without congressional consent, Eisen describes the dinner as "the most profound ethics and constitutional emoluments violations in the history of our presidency."
"The existence of this digital currency is a naked attempt to exploit [Trump's] prior and current presidencies," Eisen said.
"Foreigners and foreign governments are going to take advantage of that situation to put money in — expecting things in return," he predicted.
Creating such a quid pro quo could have significant national security implications, with such influence potentially leading to foreign policy decision that favor other countries over the U.S. Notably, foreign entities are prohibited from donating to political campaigns or influencing decision making of candidates — all to avoid foreign interference in U.S. affairs.
In an emailed statement to NPR, White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly said: "The president is working to secure GOOD deals for the American people, not for himself."
"President Trump only acts in the best interests of the American public — which is why they overwhelmingly re-elected him to this office, despite years of lies and false accusations against him and his businesses from the fake news media," she said.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a White House official said, "the meme coin has nothing to do with the White House."
Lee, the investment manager, says he doesn't think the meme tokens or the dinner present a particularly thorny ethical dilemma. "I don't know how you would get close to Trump by buying his meme coin," he says. "If you're a person of means, you can get close to any politician, right?"
But even some Republican lawmakers have expressed concerns. Wyoming Sen. Cynthia Lummis, a staunch Trump supporter, said that the situation "gives me pause," while Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, speaking to NBC, said "I don't think it would be appropriate for me to charge people to come into the Capitol and take a tour."
Eisen believes during Obama's presidency, it would have been inconceivable for such an event to take place.
"Conversely, if one of us had suggested it, he would have thrown us out of the Oval Office," he said.
But he does believe that Trump's challenge to the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution will be challenged in the courts. Otherwise, Eisen says, "if this goes unchecked, it will hang a 'for sale' sign on the White House."
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