Raising ethics questions, top Trump meme coin investors to dine with president tonight

President Trump is internet hosting an unique dinner tonight at his Trump Nationwide Golf Membership close to Washington, D.C., with a singular visitor record: 220 of the most important buyers in his $TRUMP meme coin, whose present or earlier holdings of the cryptocurrency earned them a seat on the desk.

It is an occasion the place the murky world of cryptocurrencies collides with questions of presidential ethics.

Listed here are three key issues to know in regards to the president’s meme coin, Thursday’s dinner and what all of it may imply.

What’s $TRUMP?

Days earlier than the inauguration, the president launched $TRUMP, which surged to a $27 billion market cap inside hours – valuing the president’s private stake at greater than $20 billion. Its value peaked at greater than $74 earlier than plummeting. Since hitting a low in April, it has recovered a few of its losses, making again a lot of it within the final month because the $TRUMP dinner was hyped.

In a Bitcoin World editorial in regards to the meme coin dinner, the publication mentioned that the timing of the most recent spike means that “entry to a high-profiled political determine and occasion acted as a robust catalyst.”

Meme cash are cryptocurrencies impressed by web memes or viral developments — or on this case, a U.S. president. They’re sometimes created for leisure or speculative functions and are pushed largely by hype. As hypothesis, they have an inclination to complement early buyers who’re capable of dump their cash earlier than their worth crashes.

Like Bitcoin, meme cash, typically known as meme tokens, use blockchain know-how, however normally lack a transparent use case and underlying worth.

“Meme cash aren’t investments. I would not even name them speculative. They’re riskier than the canine monitor,” in accordance with Michael Lee, the founding father of Michael Lee Technique, a wealth planning and funding administration agency.

Lee describes himself as “a full red-blooded Trump supporter” and calls the unique cryptocurrency Bitcoin “digital gold.” However as an investor, he says he would not contact $TRUMP.

“This is not even casino-level threat,” he mentioned. “In a on line casino, at the very least there’s odds.”

CIC Digital LLC, an affiliate of The Trump Group, and Combat Combat Combat LLC collectively personal about 80% of the full provide of 1 billion $TRUMP tokens, in accordance with GetTrumpMemes.com, the official web site.

Folks stroll previous a cryptocurrency change workplace with a display screen that includes President Donald Trump holding cryptocurrency cash in Hong Kong on March 12, 2025.

Mladen Antonov/AFP by way of Getty Photos

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Mladen Antonov/AFP by way of Getty Photos

Who’s attending the $TRUMP dinner?

Of the 220 buyers planning to attend, all however a only a few have solely been recognized by their “crypto pockets deal with” on-line handles.

“There’s been numerous hypothesis about who may maintain them and who won’t,” Politico reporter Declan Harty advised NPR not too long ago. “However from these people who’re speaking about their plans to attend the dinner, they’re largely cryptocurrency believers and hoping to essentially get an viewers with the president.”

Like Chinese language-born crypto-investor Justin Solar, the founding father of the blockchain-based working platform TRON. Solar introduced on X that he’s the highest holder of $TRUMP and can due to this fact be on the record for the dinner and the personal White Home tour.

“Honored to help @POTUS and grateful for the invitation from @GetTrumpMemes to attend President Trump’s Gala Dinner as his TOP fan!” he wrote.

In 2023, Solar was charged by the Securities and Alternate Fee for the unregistered sale of his cryptocurrencies, for artificially inflating their buying and selling quantity, in addition to concealing funds to movie star endorsers to advertise them, in accordance with the SEC. As of February, the SEC case was nonetheless pending, in accordance with Reuters.

However Solar is probably greatest identified to most of the people for one more buy he made final yr at a New York public sale. The tech mogul purchased a $6.2 million banana caught to a wall with duct tape — a conceptual work by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan. Solar subsequently ate the banana, bragging about it on social media.

After Solar, MemeCore, a Singapore-based crypto community, ranks second. Like Solar, MemeCore made no secret of its quest for the No. 1 slot, posting on X earlier this month that “We’re not simply aiming for #1 within the $TRUMP leaderboard – we’re right here to overcome your entire meme area.”

Wintermute, a London-based crypto market-making agency, reportedly is available in at #3, in accordance with BitCoin World. NPR reached out to the corporate to substantiate its holdings, however didn’t obtain an instantaneous reply.

What are the moral implications?

Norm Eisen is a former ambassador who was an ethics advisor to former President Barack Obama and now serves as the chief chair of Democracy Defenders Motion.

Citing the Emoluments Clause, the constitutional provision that bars federal officers from accepting items, funds, or different advantages from international governments with out congressional consent, Eisen describes the dinner as “probably the most profound ethics and constitutional emoluments violations within the historical past of our presidency.”

“The existence of this digital foreign money is a unadorned try to use [Trump’s] prior and present presidencies,” Eisen mentioned.

“Foreigners and international governments are going to benefit from that state of affairs to place cash in — anticipating issues in return,” he predicted.

Creating such a quid professional quo might have vital nationwide safety implications, with such affect doubtlessly resulting in international coverage choice that favor different international locations over the U.S. Notably, international entities are prohibited from donating to political campaigns or influencing choice making of candidates — all to keep away from international interference in U.S. affairs.

In an emailed assertion to NPR, White Home deputy press secretary Anna Kelly mentioned: “The president is working to safe GOOD offers for the American folks, not for himself.”

“President Trump solely acts in one of the best pursuits of the American public — which is why they overwhelmingly re-elected him to this workplace, regardless of years of lies and false accusations towards him and his companies from the pretend information media,” she mentioned.

Talking on situation of anonymity, a White Home official mentioned, “the meme coin has nothing to do with the White Home.”

Lee, the funding supervisor, says he would not assume the meme tokens or the dinner current a very thorny moral dilemma. “I do not understand how you’d get near Trump by shopping for his meme coin,” he says. “When you’re an individual of means, you may get near any politician, proper?”

However even some Republican lawmakers have expressed issues. Wyoming Sen. Cynthia Lummis, a staunch Trump supporter, mentioned that the state of affairs “provides me pause,” whereas Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, chatting with NBC, mentioned “I do not assume it could be applicable for me to cost folks to come back into the Capitol and take a tour.”

Eisen believes throughout Obama’s presidency, it could have been inconceivable for such an occasion to happen.

“Conversely, if certainly one of us had urged it, he would have thrown us out of the Oval Workplace,” he mentioned.

However he does consider that Trump’s problem to the Emoluments Clause of the Structure shall be challenged within the courts. In any other case, Eisen says, “if this goes unchecked, it would dangle a ‘on the market’ signal on the White Home.”