President Donald Trump recently announced that he would host a private dinner for the top 220 biggest holders of $TRUMP, the meme coin he launched days prior to taking office – and several U.S. Senators would like to know exactly why he’s doing this.
The dinner was publicly advertised on the $TRUMP coin homepage this past Wednesday, and included a special VIP package for the top 25 holders: a private reception with Trump, and a VIP tour of the White House the next day. According to the site, the winners will be determined by how much of the coin a contestant owns, as well as how long they hold it between April 23rd and May 12. “The more $TRUMP you hold — and the longer you hold it — the higher Your Ranking will be,” it said.
At its peak, a $TRUMP token went for $75.35 on January 19th, the day before his inauguration. It has plummeted ever since, losing 88 percent of its value, and sat at $9.18 before the contest was announced. The promotion caused $TRUMP to jump by more than 50 percent, according to CBS, hitting a peak of $14.32 that afternoon and bringing in an extra $100 million in value.
Democrat Senators were outraged, with Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) posting on X that this was “the most brazenly corrupt thing a President has ever done.” In a letter obtained by CNBC, Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Adam Schiff (D-CA) requested that the U.S. Office of Ethics open a probe into the President’s actions, noting that the dinner could indicate that Trump and his officials “may be engaging in ‘pay to play’ corruption by selling presidential access to individuals or entities, to include foreign nationals and corporate actors with vested interests in federal action, while personally enriching the President and his family,” the senators wrote.
The likelihood of an investigation, however, is slim.: Republicans have control of both chambers of Congress, and in February, Trump fired the director of the Office of Ethics, who had just been confirmed by the Senate to serve a five-year term.
Trump has tightly embraced the crypto world over the past several years, courting the community during his second presidential race as well as appointing David Sacks as “crypto czar” to shape policy around virtual currency, establishing a “Bitcoin Strategic Reserve,” and crucially, eliminating the unit at the Justice Department that prosecutes crypto fraud. In return, crypto companies have donated millions of dollars to Trump’s campaign and inauguration committee.
