Dozens of crypto whales and business moguls shelled out millions for a chance to dine with Donald Trump at his Virginia golf course in May 2025. The exclusive dinner, reserved for the largest holders of Trump’s Solana-based $TRUMP memecoin, drew 220 guests who had competed in a bizarre digital leaderboard race to secure their spots.
The token’s January launch, strategically timed days before Trump’s presidential inauguration, sparked a crypto feeding frenzy. With only 20% of the billion tokens initially available to the public, investors scrambled to grab their share. The remaining 80%? Safely tucked away by CIC Digital LLC, a Trump Organization affiliate. The token’s total supply reached 1 billion, marking a significant milestone in memecoin history. Smart move. In a market with over 21,000 cryptocurrencies, the $TRUMP token aimed to stand out from the crowd.
Trump’s team masterfully controlled the $TRUMP token supply, releasing just 20% while keeping the lion’s share safely locked away.
Among the dinner’s attendees was Justin Sun, the Chinese Tron blockchain founder worth a cool $40+ billion, who emerged as the top token holder. He wasn’t alone in crossing oceans for a plate of Trump-approved cuisine – Australian crypto investor Kain Warwick and a representative from Singapore’s MemeCore also made the journey. The SEC had paused a fraud lawsuit against Sun during this period. Quite the international affair for an American president’s dinner party.
Some guests came with more than appetite on their minds. Freight Technologies CFO Donald Quinby dropped $2 million on tokens, hoping to bend Trump’s ear about tariff policies. Talk about an expensive lobbying dinner.
The whole spectacle followed a wild ride for $TRUMP token, which had settled at a $2.7 billion market cap by May after an initial surge. Not bad for a memecoin that basically sold access to a golf club dinner.
Meanwhile, Melania Trump jumped on the bandwagon with her own Solana token, because apparently one Trump coin wasn’t enough.
The dinner highlighted an uncomfortable truth: most top token holders had ties to foreign exchange Binance, suggesting non-U.S. ownership dominated the guest list. Nothing says “America First” quite like selling digital dinner tickets to international crypto moguls.
The Trump family and backers walked away with $300 million in fees – proving that in the world of political memecoins, the house always wins.
