$TRUMP meme coin buyers spent more than $140 million to get dinner invite with Trump

Buyers of the $TRUMP meme coin have spent more than $140 million to get an dinner invite with President Trump, Inca Digital's data analysis shows.

A meme coin is a form of cryptocurrency that centers around an online meme or tends to have some humorous characteristic. $TRUMP is a meme coin associated with Donald Trump, with one billion coins created, 800 million of which are owned by Trump-owned companies.

The digital currency received a major boost when it announced on April 23 that the top 220 holders of the currency as of May 12 would receive a special invitation for dinner with the president.

This announcement helped to increase the value of the coin by 40% more than before, reversing its 88% drop a few weeks prior.

In a bid to be a top holder, people spent large sums of money, from $53,500 to as much as $16.4 million, to get an invite to the exclusive dinner, according to Inca Digital's analysis. It was announced on May 12 that the biggest holder was, in fact, a mysterious account named Sun VIP.

The identity of the account owner is unidentifiable, thanks to the anonymity of digital wallets, and the purchases were made using exchanges that don't allow U.S. customers, for example, Bybit and Gate.io. Austin Ryan, the director of marketing for Inca Digital, added that a lot of these users sent funds to international exchanges, suggesting that they are not in the U.S.

This unique contest has raised a few eyebrows, especially those of government watchdogs and lawmakers, who have voiced concerns about how the Trump-branded asset is linked to the president.

Not only this, but as the $TRUMP coin is largely owned by The Trump Organisation, the president's real estate business, he is financially benefitting directly from each purchase of the meme coin.

When Trump's meme coin first launched, only 20% of the 1 billion coins were initially released, and half of that amount was up for sale to the public.

The other half was then put into a liquidity pool, in which CIC Digital, an affiliate of the Trump Organization, and another company called Fight Fight Fight receive “trading revenue derived from trading activities”.

This means that through the liquidity pool, creators of the meme coins profit by charging transactional fees on each trade. Liquidity pools work as an automated pot of funds, pairing up coins like $TRUMP with other, more popular types of crypto that can be easily traded.

The official @TRUMP meme coin website is yet to disclose any of the 220 identities for those that won, and this air of mystery has been scrutalised by Tony Carrk, the executive director of watchdog group Accountable. US. He has expressed concern about the holders being "shrouded by their anonymous crypto usernames", reports CBS News.

On May 22, the highly anticipated dinner will take place at the Trump National Golf Club in Washington, D.C., the $TRUMP meme coin website states.

At this event, 25 of the top holders will be treated to a private VIP reception with the president and, according to the site, receive a "special VIP tour".