Original | Odaily Planet Daily ( @OdailyChina )
Author | Dingdang ( @XiaMiPP )
At 7 a.m. Beijing time on May 23 (late evening on May 22, Eastern Time in the United States), a special dinner where encryption and politics intersected was held as scheduled at the Trump National Golf Club outside Washington, DC.
This was no ordinary social dinner, but a night of glory for the top 220 TRUMP token holders - they won the opportunity to dine with US President Trump based on their holding rankings between April 23 and May 12.
A Review of the First Trump Meme Coin Competition
On April 19, crypto community member @thetrenchdiver posted that Trump plans to hold a dinner for large investors holding TRUMP coins. As the news spread, the price of TRUMP tokens rose from $7.7, which was close to the bottom, to $8.7, an increase of nearly 13% . Despite this, many people are still skeptical about the authenticity of the news .
It was not until April 23 that the official confirmed the news: Trump will hold a TRUMP DINNER dinner for the top 220 TRUMP token holders on May 22 at the Trump National Golf Club in Washington, DC, and registration is open. At this time, the token price has risen to around $9.2. The official confirmation of the news instantly pushed the price to around $16.2, an increase of 76%. However, the details of the dinner that were subsequently disclosed stated that Trump might be absent, causing the token price to fall back to around $13.3.
Despite this, the appeal of the dinner continued to ferment. On April 26, the price of TRUMP tokens steadily rose to around $16.4.
On May 12, the first TRUMP Meme Coin Competition officially ended and the ranking list was locked. The ranking list is based on the average hourly holdings from April 23 to May 12. The top 220 holders will be eligible for the dinner, and the top 25 will be able to attend the VIP reception with Trump and a special tour of the White House. In addition, all participants in the ranking list will be awarded TRUMP NFT as a souvenir. For details of the event, please refer to the I Want to Meet Trumps TRUMP Dinner Attendance Guide previously published by Odaily Planet Daily.
Dinner Process and Requirements
According to information previously provided by BitMart founder Sheldon Xia, no gifts or large camera equipment are allowed at this Trump dinner, and the camera equipment must not exceed the level of a mobile phone. The dress code is required to comply with the Black Tie standard, that is, suits, ties and leather shoes must be worn, and the overall dress code is very formal.
All participants are required to provide basic personal information, such as name, nationality, contact information, etc., and undergo a strict background check. Non-US users may be subject to special audits, and the results of the audits are usually confirmed closer to the event. So far, there have been no cases of being eliminated due to background checks.
There will be strict security checks on the day of the event, and VIP participants will attend a special reception one hour in advance to interact with Trump. A two-hour formal dinner will follow. A tour of the White House will be arranged the next day, but it has not yet been confirmed whether Trump will accompany him. There will also be informal group activities after the dinner.
$148 million ticket: From Sun Yuchen, who holds more than $20 million, to a $1,200 loophole player
It takes more than a suit to enter this elite club.
According to the ranking list published on the official website of Meme coin TRUMP , the ticket price for this dinner is enough to make peoples eyes water. The total holdings of the top 25 holders are as high as 8.98 million tokens. Among them, Sun Yuchen, the founder of TRON, topped the list with a holding of over 20 million US dollars. The second VIP seat was claimed by MemeCore, and the market maker Wintermute ranked in the top three due to its early layout.
Statistics show that during the competition, Trump Meme coin buyers spent a total of about $148 million to compete for 220 seats, which is equivalent to an average of $670,000 per person. But in the end, there were two extremes sitting at Trumps table:
Top players : Justin Sun, founder of Tron, tops the list with a holding of over 20 million US dollars, while market maker Wintermute squeezes into the top three with only 400,000 tokens held thanks to its early holding strategy.
Bug Hunter : Morten Christensen ranked 188th and his friends used the buy + short hedge arbitrage operation to lock in their seats by paying only $1,200 in transaction fees. Their positions were even quickly cleared after the ranking was confirmed.
This absurd comparison is not an isolated case. Data shows that 22 of the top 25 people purchased tokens after the event was announced. However, after the ranking was confirmed, the holdings of 17 wallet addresses of the top 220 holders at the dinner had returned to zero, including noah ranked 25th.
Chainalysis data reveals a crueler reality: 58 wallets made profits of more than $10 million, with a total profit of more than $1 billion, but at the same time, 764,000 wallets suffered losses . In this game, not everyone is a winner.
Dinner meeting transcript: The delicate dance between encryption and politics
When Trump showed up at the dinner as scheduled, the symbolic significance of the event had gone beyond a simple business gathering and became a historic occasion for the first official handshake between crypto capital and traditional political power.
Justin Sun’s speech: Thank you President for supporting the crypto industry
As the largest holder, Justin Sun , global advisor of Huobi HTX and founder of TRON, was invited to give a speech. He said, Thank you very much for what the Trump administration has done for our industry. Not long ago, crypto people were constantly oppressed, and it was impossible for us to hold such a grand event in Washington to bring all practitioners together in the United States to build the crypto industry. This is the best thing I can think of. If I can come to the United States, then everyone can come. Screenshots of his speech video also swept social media, and Justin Sun himself responded to the community discussion in person.
Sheldon Xia: The “Golden Five Minutes” Bought with Tens of Millions of Dollars
Sheldon Xia, founder of BitMart, revealed that he invested about $10 million to enter the top 25 seats and had the opportunity to briefly communicate with Trump. This investment was made after the dinner was confirmed in order to secure his seat. However, he still holds this part of the assets instead of selling them immediately after locking in a seat. Sheldon Xia plans to ask Trump about the direction of macro-regulation in the crypto field, including relevant policies in the U.S. and global markets.
Image from Sheldons official X account
Kronos Research CIO In-depth Observation: From Financial Instrument to Status Symbol
Kronos Research CIO Vincent was also invited to Trumps VIP dinner. He said that holding TRUMP was based on early market signals and narrative momentum, not political stance. From the perspective of someone who has been observing market structure for a long time, this is a sign that crypto assets are gradually evolving from financial tools to expressions of social and political identity. It is not just participating in history, but witnessing how a new narrative logic enters the center of power. For the entire industry, this is a highly symbolic signal.
From Clubs to Capitol Hill: The Political Storm of a Crypto Dinner
Under the dazzling crystal chandeliers of the Trump National Golf Club, as Trump raised his glass to take photos with coin holders, protesters outside the club were holding up signs that read Crypto Corruption - this dinner, which cost hundreds of millions of dollars, has long exceeded the boundaries of industry exchange in the eyes of Democrats.
According to @CryptoDoggyCN , due to protests outside the venue and opposition from Democratic lawmakers, the organizers banned live broadcasts and video recordings, and violators were asked to leave. Trump left the dinner one hour later, and the originally planned visit to the White House may have been canceled due to security or schedule adjustments. The specific reason was not disclosed.
Just hours before the dinner, a sniper war against cryptocurrency corruption had already begun on Capitol Hill. U.S. Democratic leader Rep. Maxine Waters proposed a new bill to address concerns about the presidents involvement in digital assets. It is reported that Maxine Waters and 14 other Democratic co-sponsors proposed the Stop Trading, Holding, and Unfair Market Returns in Cryptocurrency Act of 2025 on Thursday afternoon . The bill clearly stipulates that the president and his relatives are prohibited from holding digital assets that may affect the market .
The seeds of controversy have long been planted. It was revealed that Trump plans to hold two crypto-themed events in May: In addition to this coin holders dinner, there is also a Crypto and AI Innovators Dinner organized by the MAGA Inc. super PAC, the latter of which is priced at $1.5 million per seat. This has aroused doubts from many politicians, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, who believe that this move may involve an exchange of interests of exchanging presidential privileges for business investment.
In response to the doubts , Trump emphasized that he did not profit from it and regarded the crypto industry as a strategic area of competition between China and the United States. When the price of TRUMP tokens soared by 50% after the news of the dinner was announced, Trump claimed that he had no idea about its valuation.
Craig Holman of the consumer rights advocacy organization said directly : Trump once claimed that he was too rich to be bought, but now he has created a new model for political donations - using tokens instead of checks. We have never had a president who loves money as much as this president.
This accusation goes straight to the heart of the matter: When crypto capital dances so closely with political power, are the boundaries of democracy being redefined? In the eyes of the protesters outside the club, this dinner has already given the answer.
