Former President Donald Trump hosted an exclusive dinner for hundreds of top investors of his 'memecoin' cryptocurrency at his golf club outside of Washington

Trump flew in to attend the gala and meet the 220 biggest purchasers of his $TRUMP memecoin. Citing an event website, news agency AFP reported that the top 25 investors were to get a private session with Trump beforehand and a tour of the White House.

Former President Donald Trump on Thursday hosted an exclusive dinner for hundreds of top investors of his ‘memecoin’ cryptocurrency at his golf club outside of Washington, where protesters yelled “shame” at the guests.

Trump flew in to attend the gala and meet the 220 biggest purchasers of his $TRUMP memecoin. Citing an event website, news agency AFP reported that the top 25 investors were to get a private session with Trump beforehand and a tour of the White House.

The President had announced the launch of his crypto just three days before his inauguration in January, quickly boosting his net worth and raising ethical concerns.

Describing any concerns over ethics as “a total hoax,” the White House said Trump was attending the dinner in his “personal time”.

Ahead of the exclusive gala for memecoin investors, Trump took to his Truth Social network and posted, “Heading to the Crypto Dinner in Loudon County, Virginia, in a little while. The U.S.A. is DOMINATING in Crypto, Bitcoin, etc., and we are going to keep it that way!”

'Shame! Stop crypto corruption!'

Meanwhile, around 100 protesters could be heard screaming “Shame!” and “I hope you choke on your dinner!” within the range of the security checkpoint at Trump’s golf club as guests arrived for the event. They also held up signs like “America is not for sale” and “Memecoin grifters go to jail” at the venue.

The demonstrators were protesting against alleged crypto corruption. Some other signs also read “no kings” and “stop crypto corruption”.

After the guests had checked in and moved into the club, the protesters began to chant slogans like “shame on you” and “we hope you starve”.

As the protesters marched out of the club, they continued to yell at the guests going in for the gala dinner.

The former president’s golf club was swarming with security personnel, and state police vehicles were also present at the scene.

Despite the presence of several news crews, a Trump family spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Democrats slam Trump over memecoin investor dinner

Some members of the Democratic Party also slammed Trump over the gala dinner with his memecoin investors, describing it as an “orgy of corruption”.

Senator Elizabeth Warren slammed him for “using the presidency of the United States to make himself richer through crypto”.

“He went on national TV to tout his memecoin and said it was going to make America rich again. But the only people getting rich are the Trump family,” she said.

Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, during an interview earlier this month, referring to the dinner, said, “In effect he is putting a ‘For Sale’ sign on the White House lawn.”

Earlier this year, after Trump announced his memecoin, members of Congress had written to the Office of Government Ethics to express their concerns over the former president launching a new crypto venture.

In January, Trump unveiled his $TRUMP memecoin in partnership with Fight Club, a collective of memecoin enthusiasts. The coin is based on the TRUMP token, which was launched in December 2022.

The move came shortly after Trump announced that he was running for president again in 2024.

How were investors chosen for dinner?

Holders of the Trump memecoin had to register on an online leaderboard to qualify for the dinner. The leaderboard tracked their average memecoin holdings over a period of three weeks.

Following this, the top 220 holders of $TRUMP memecoin got invited, of which the top 25 were called for a special pre-dinner reception with the president.

$TRUMP memecoin

The memecoin’s market cap reached nearly $15 billion soon after its launch in January. However, it has since taken a sharp dive to about $2.9 billion.

The announcement of the dinner gala at Trump’s golf club modestly boosted the memcoin’s price. Fight Fight Fight LLC and CIC Digital LLC, an affiliate of The Trump Organization, hold 80 per cent of the memecoin’s total supply.

The Trump family has expanded its network of crypto businesses. Last year, Trump, along with his sons Donald Jr and Eric Trump, launched World Liberty Financial. The venture has raised more than $550 million.