Despite Claims to the Contrary, Investors in Donald Trump's Cryptocurrency Meme Coin Visited the White House

(WASHINGTON) — Despite repeated claims from the White House that President Donald Trump’s Thursday night gala for the top holders of his cryptocurrency meme coin had nothing to do with his official duties

President Donald Trump met with several of the top investors in his cryptocurrency meme coin at the White House on Friday afternoon for a special VIP event, the attendees told ABC News.

The presence of the crypto investors at the White House appeared to contradict claims by administration officials that Trump’s Thursday night gala for the meme coin investors had nothing to do with his official duties.

Earlier this year, Trump announced he would be hosting a dinner at his golf club in Washington D.C., with the top 25 investors in his namesake meme coin — an endeavor undertaken with his youngest son, Eric Trump.

To gain admission to the gala, investors had to pour millions of dollars into the $TRUMP coin, the vast majority of which went to Trump family businesses, according to an analysis by Litquidators, a blockchain analytics firm.

The Trump campaign has insisted that the president was attending the dinner in a personal capacity, and that since it did not take place at the White House, it was separate from his official duties.

“The president is attending in his personal time,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday. “It is not a White House dinner. It’s not taking place here at the White House.”

But on Friday, Sangrok Oh, a Korean crypto investor, said he and other top investors had been invited to tour the White House on Friday afternoon, though it was not clear to him whether Trump himself would meet them.

“So, we’re going to visit and tour the White House [and] at the same time talk about crypto industries and the future of crypto,” Oh said.

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond on Friday to a request for comment from ABC News.

Cherry Hsu, an executive at MemeCore, a Singapore-based blockchain startup, said the firm’s founder, known publicly as “Ice,” had also been invited to the White House on Friday afternoon. MemeCore, according to the contest leaderboard, finished second in the competition with $TRUMP coin holdings in excess of $1 million.

And late Friday, Justin Sun, a Chinese crupto mogul and the top investor in Trump’s meme coin, posted a highly produced video of his White House tour, writing on X, “Was an honor to be invited to tour the @WhiteHouse. Such a privilege to see it in person.”

In addition to his multimillion-dollar investment in the $TRUMP coin, Sun has also invested $75 million in World Liberty Financial, another Trump-backed crypto venture. One month after that investment, SEC lawyers under the Trump administration moved to halt an alleged fraud case against Sun.

The Trump meme coin’s website at one point earlier this month advertised a “Special VIP White House tour” for the top 25 meme coin holders as part of the contest — but as of last week, the site said only that a “Special VIP tour” would be arranged, without mentioning the White House. The site also included a disclaimer saying the tour was being arranged by the Fight Fight Fight LLC, and that the president himself would be appearing as a guest.