Trump launches cryptocurrency token called the $TRUMP 'meme coin' that he launched days before taking office

The 25 wealthiest of them will also attend an ‘exclusive reception before dinner with YOUR FAVORITE President’ followed, the next day, by a ‘VIP tour’ of the White House.

A lavish dinner for 220 guests will take place next Thursday under the crystal chandeliers of the great ballroom at the Trump National Golf Club outside Washington DC.

Organisers are calling it ‘the most exclusive invitation in the world’.

The 800-acre venue boasts ‘stunning views of the Potomac River’ – but the most impressive view for the guests, all of them cryptocurrency investors, will be of their host, President Trump.

The 25 wealthiest of them will also attend an ‘exclusive reception before dinner with YOUR FAVORITE President’ followed, the next day, by a ‘VIP tour’ of the White House.

They include Justin Sun, a Chinese billionaire best known for paying $6.2million for a banana at an art auction.

He and fellow guests will doubtless make sure that they royally flatter their host about his recent trip to the Middle East, where he was offered by Qatar’s ruling royal family a ‘palace in the sky’ Boeing 747-8. It’s just the sort of jackpot such speculators would admire.

Govemments often push the boat out in this way, either to encourage wealthy people to invest in their country or to thank them for past generosity.

However, what’s unusual – though ‘outrageous’ might be a better word – about this glitzy night with The Donald is that the guests aren’t being rewarded for services to the US or charity, but for services to the Trump private bank account.

The 220 attending the dinner are doing so purely because they bought a cryptocurrency token called the $TRUMP ‘meme coin’ that the President launched days before taking office (for good measure, First Lady Melania launched her own too).

To get an invitation to the dinner, it’s estimated that ‘investors’ bought around $55,000 worth of the coin apiece, while to qualify for the even more selective pre-dinner reception with the President (and that VIP tour) they had to purchase $TRUMP coins worth $4.3million. (Mr Sun reportedly was the biggest spender, shelling out $19million.)

Like other such tokens, the $TRUMP coin lacks any intrinsic value and its worth is instead defined by what speculators are prepared to pay for it, or ‘hype’ in other words.

That didn’t stop buyers spending $148million snapping up the tokens in a three-week-long contest to win a dinner invitation, pushing the current market value of all $TRUMP coins to more than $2.7billion.

In the process, the investors made millions of dollars for the Trump family as the latter’s businesses own a majority of the coins and they also get a transaction fee each time one of the tokens are exchanged.

It’s just a shame that Justin Sun and the other ‘crypto bros’ won’t be able to celebrate their ‘favourite’ president over a few high-priced late-night drinks at another Trump money-spinner nearby.

But sadly the Executive Branch, a Washington DC private club set up by Donald Trump Jr and a few other investors, isn’t open yet.

It will have a joining fee of up to $500,000 and is intended, say insiders, to offer business and tech moguls the chance to hobnob with members of the Trump administration in privacy.

Since Lyndon Johnson in the 1960s, every US president except Trump has agreed to sell his investments before taking office or seal them in a blind trust.

Questions have been raised after Trump’s visit to the Middle East, which included a stop in the United Arab Emirates

Trump insists that it is enough for his sons to run the family business instead but many vigorously disagree.

According to Forbes, his personal wealth has more than doubled to $5.1billion in the past year, half of which has been spent preparing for office or as President.

Even so, what’s happening with the $TRUMP has flabbergasted opponents with Trump facing a rising tide of outrage over allegations of shameless self-enrichment and corruption.

In particular, his critics say he shouldn’t be involved in cryptocurrencies when he has so much power over the controversial industry and when investors can curry favour with him by buying his products.

‘The Trump meme coin is the single most corrupt act ever committed by a President,’ howled Democrat US Senator Chris Murphy last week.

‘Donald Trump is essentially posting his Venmo [a US payment app] for any billionaire CEO or foreign oligarch to cash in some favours by secretly sending him millions of dollars.’

And this week, new concerns were raised when GD Culture Group, a mysterious technology company with ties to China, announced it was buying up to $300million worth of $TRUMP.

Might they expect a quid pro quo for their generosity?

The same question is being asked about the Qataris over their recent