In the crypto world, meme coins are mostly just jokes with no intrinsic value.

In the crypto world, meme coins are mostly just jokes with no intrinsic value. But the Trump family is parlaying the president's meme coin into two valuable commodities: serious cash and access to the president.

Since the coin was launched earlier this year, it has generated more than $320 million in fees for its creators, according to the blockchain analysis firm Chainalysis. And on Monday, Trump will be promoting a dinner he's set to attend on May 22nd that's open to almost anyone who buys enough of the coins.

According to the contest's rules, the top 220 holders of the meme coin will get to go to the dinner at Trump's Washington-area golf club. The top 25 holders will also get to attend a reception where they can rub shoulders with Trump beforehand.

“Let the President know how many $TRUMP coins YOU own!” the meme coin said on its website promoting the dinner.

Trading activity in the meme coin jumped after the dinner was first announced and the price rose as well. But the Trumps don't need to sell any coins to make money.

How Trump makes money off the meme coin

Decentralisation is foundational to cryptocurrency. Bitcoin, the world's most popular crypto, was born in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis as a digital currency meant to be uncontrolled by banks or governments.

Trump meme coins can be traded on a decentralised exchange, which is essentially a place where traders can swap goods without a middleman.

Instead of matching buyers and sellers one by one, decentralised exchanges use something called a liquidity pool to ensure trades can happen easily and instantly. Liquidity pools are essentially an automated pot of funds that pair meme coins like $TRUMP with more popular types of crypto that can be easily traded.

When the Trump meme coin was first launched, its creators initially released 20% of the planned 1 billion total coins. Half of that 20% was put up for public sale while the other half was put into a liquidity pool. CIC Digital, an affiliate of the Trump Organisation, and another company receive “trading revenue derived from trading activities” of the Trump meme coins, according to its website.

Through the liquidity pool, the creators of Trump's meme coins make money by charging tiny fees on each trade.

“You don't really care about what happens to the price. You only care that there is continuous volume,” said Nicolai Søndergaard, a research analyst at the blockchain analytics firm Nansen. “Because the more volume there is, that means more trades and therefore more fees for you.”

Since cryptocurrency blockchains are public, it's possible to track how much in trading fees has been paid. Chainalysis said Trump meme coin creators made more than $1.3 million in trading fees in the week after the dinner was first announced. The value of the meme coin jumped from about $9 to around $14 just after the announcement. It was trading around $11 on Monday afternoon.

Trump downplays profits

Launched just before he took office, Trump's meme coin has become one of the most high-profile ways the norm-breaking president has mixed politics and his personal finances.

The remaining 80% of Trump's meme coins, which are still under a lock-up, have been allocated to CIC Digital and another company. An ethics agreement prohibits Trump from “day-to-day” decision making at the Trump Organisation when he's president and limits the financial information about the business that can be shared with him.

During an interview with NBC's Meet the Press over the weekend, Trump said he didn't follow the price swings of his meme coin and dismissed the idea that he was profiting from the presidency. He also rejected a suggestion that he would forgo any profits made from his crypto endeavours.

“Should I contribute all of my real estate that I've owned for many years if it goes up a little bit because I'm president and doing a good job? I don't think so,” Trump said.

Heavy promotion

The team behind Trump's meme coins has been aggressively trying to promote the chance to eat with the president.

“Good News! President Trump is allowing one more person to attend Dinner with Trump,” the meme coin's official account on X said last week, encouraging people to reply with memes featuring Trump. “Our favourite $TRUMP memes will be shown to President Trump and we will pick 1 person who gets to come to the dinner on May 22nd!”

The creators have also tried to up the ante by offering $100,000 Trump-themed watches to the top four holders of Trump's meme coins.

On Monday night, Trump is hosting a “Crypto & AI Innovators Dinner” fundraiser sponsored by his Maga, Inc. super PAC at his golf club outside Washington.