President Trump’s endorsed memecoin soared in value on Wednesday after the token’s founders promised that top holders would be able to have dinner with America’s first “crypto president.”
The price of Trump’s memecoin, known as $TRUMP, skyrocketed 58% within one hour to $14.70 on Wednesday after the token’s website announced that the top 220 holders will be invited to meet the president at his golf club near Washington, D.C., on May 22. The “intimate private dinner” will include a speech from Trump about the future of crypto. The top 25 holders will be invited to a “VIP reception” and given a White House tour.
The guest list for the “black-tie optional” event will be determined by a leaderboard that will keep track of investors’ average $TRUMP holdings between April 23 and May 12. The current top holder owns 400,005 tokens, worth $5.2 million at its current price of $13.01.
“The competition is fierce,” the website says. “Let the President know how many $TRUMP coins YOU own!”
Trump token unlock
Late last week, 40 million additional $TRUMP tokens were set to be released to the memecoin’s creators and CIC Digital, a company affiliated with Trump, in what’s called a token unlock. Unlocks have been known to reduce the value of a token by increasing its available supply, and often lead to major selloffs as token insiders dump their holdings for profit.
Despite fears that the Trump team would opt to sell, there were no large-scale sales over the weekend, according to blockchain data firm Chainalysis, leading to increased investor confidence in the longevity of the token and a 10% bump in value. In fact, the tokens that were scheduled to be released last week will remain locked for an additional 90 days, the Trump memecoin account wrote on X on Wednesday.
Trump-linked companies stand to hold 80% of the token’s supply after they are all released by 2028. Considering that $TRUMP’s value had fallen 90% since its initial launch, the dinner may be an effort to prop up the token’s price and maximize the value for holders of any future sales, Dylan Bane, an analyst at research firm Messari, told Fortune.
“Given the token’s significant drop since launch, they likely want to avoid setting a precedent of aggressive selloffs, especially with the majority of tokens still locked for the next 24 months,” he said.
Conflicts of interest
The dinner also highlights a conflict of interest created by a presidential memecoin. During Trump’s first presidency, ethics organizations criticized the use of the president’s various hotels by people—both domestic and foreign—with matters before the government. This time around, Trump’s array of crypto ventures, including his memecoin and DeFi company World Liberty Financial, present an easier and more anonymous way to potentially bribe or influence the president.
The legality of Trump’s memecoin remains a gray area. “There isn’t a lot of precedent for the president to be the owner of a publicly traded asset, and especially a meme asset,” Jordan Libowitz, a vice president at the watchdog Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, previously told Fortune.
However, the White House denies the memecoin presents an ethical issue. “President Trump’s assets are in a trust managed by his children,” Anna Kelly, the White House’s deputy press secretary, told Fortune. “There are no conflicts of interest.”