Buyers of Donald Trump's $TRUMP meme coin will learn Monday if they've won a chance to dine with the president

NEW YORK, New York, May 14, 2024 (Reuters) – Buyers of U.S. President Donald Trump’s $TRUMP meme coin are expected to learn Monday if they’ve won an opportunity to dine with the president at his country club outside of Washington, D.C. on May 22.

The event, which the president promoted on social media as “the most EXCLUSIVE INVITATION in the world,” promises the top 220 holders of the $TRUMP meme coin an invite to a gala dinner with the president, while the top 25 will also enjoy “an ultra-exclusive private VIP reception” with the president as well as a “Special VIP Tour.”

The website says that the winners will be ranked by their “time-weighted” $TRUMP holdings, which are calculated from the time the contest was announced on April 23 to the cutoff on May 12. The top 220 “time-weighted” holdings amounted to $160 million worth of $TRUMP coin as of Friday, according to crypto intelligence firm Inca Digital.

The coins surged to $75 after Trump announced them over his Inauguration weekend before falling to a low of $7.50. On Sunday, $TRUMP was trading around $14.

The top holder of $TRUMP meme coins on the leaderboard on Sunday was a wallet called “SUN” with nearly $18 million worth of the coin in time weighted holdings. The wallet is owned by Seychelles-based crypto exchange HTX, according to blockchain analysis firm Arkham.

China-born crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun is a member of HTX’s global advisory board, according to his Linkedin profile. HTX didn’t respond to requests for comment on the wallet. Sun declined to comment.

After Trump won the presidency, Sun said he invested a total of $75 million into the family’s new cryptocurrency venture, World Liberty Financial. In addition to being the single-largest known investor, Sun also became an advisor to the project.

In February, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said it paused its 2023 fraud case against Sun, citing public interest.

The SEC declined to comment.

At number 220 on the leaderboard on Sunday was an anonymous wallet simply known as “Jjj,” which held about $53,000 worth of time-weighted coins. The terms and conditions of the event noted that Trump may not attend and it could be “cancelled for any reason.”

In January, the Trump Organization announced that the president’s investments, assets and business interests would be held in a trust managed by his children and he would play no role in day-to-day operations or decision making. The family named a prominent attorney, William Burck, as an ethics adviser to “avoid any perceived conflicts of interest.”

On April 24, the Trump Organization subsequently fired Burck, citing his representation of Harvard University in its funding battle with the Trump administration. The company has not named a replacement. Burck did not offer comment.

The White House and the Trump Organization did not respond to requests for comment. In an earlier response to Reuters regarding criticisms by Democratic lawmakers that the meme coin dinner poses conflicts of interest, White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said: “President Trump’s assets are in a trust managed by his children. There are no conflicts of interest.”

The current market value of all $TRUMP coins is $2.74 billion. A company controlled by the Trump family and a second firm together hold 80% of the remaining supply of the meme coins, which are advertised with an image of the president raising his fist in reference to his July assassination attempt.

So far, the entities behind the Trump coin have earned $320.19 million in fees, including at least $1.35 million after the dinner announcement, according to blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis.

Some government ethics experts say the $TRUMP meme coin allows anonymous foreign individuals to personally purchase access to Trump, triggering a volley of complaints from Democratic lawmakers to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Connecticut Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, ranking member of the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, has opened an inquiry into whether Trump’s crypto enterprises violate government ethics requirements.

Both Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy and Oregon Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley have each introduced bills aimed at ending the ability of presidents and members of Congress to profit off crypto assets. California Democratic Congressman Sam Liccardo introduced companion legislation in the U.S. House.

“The Trump meme coin is the single most corrupt act ever committed by a president,” said Sen. Murphy in a statement to Reuters on Friday. “Donald Trump is essentially posting his Venmo for any billionaire CEO or foreign oligarch to cash in some favors by secretly sending him millions of dollars.”

Of particular concern, the lawmakers say, is