President Donald Trump is preparing again to poke the bear of irritated voters, lawmakers, and ethics experts by throwing an exclusive Mar-a-Lago “gala” for his biggest crypto coin investors.
The top 297 owners of his meme coin $TRUMP have been invited to attend an April 25 “conference” at Mar-a-Lago, including a “gala lunch” with “keynote speaker” Donald J. Trump.
According to the invitation, the top 29 holders of $TRUMP will have a “VIP Reception with YOUR FAVORITE PRESIDENT, and other Superstar guests!” Join the “most exclusive crypto and business finance conference in the world,” the announcement gushes.
The last time the president mixed his crypto business with politics was at another highly controversial crypto fête a year ago at his Virginia golf club, where the top 220 $TRUMP investors gathered. Massachusetts Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren bashed the event as an “orgy of corruption.” Guests spent an average of $1.37 million (in real dollars) purchasing $TRUMP, the Daily Beast reported at the time.
Crypto billionaire Justin Sun was one of Trump’s guests in Virginia. He had been under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission over claims of market manipulation, but the SEC requested a court halt the case against him a few months before Trump’s event.
Just as at that dinner, this year’s shindig will offer investors access to the president as they’re expected to finagle ways to influence policy that will benefit them.
One billion $TRUMP meme coins were created when the crypto operation was launched just three days before Trump became president. No matter where the coins are purchased, Trump earns a transaction fee on each transfer, Mother Jones reports. So he doesn’t just profit when he sells coins he owns; he collects whenever people are buying or selling. Trump-affiliated businesses have made millions of dollars selling the coin, and in transaction fees.
Meanwhile, the value of the coin has fallen from $45 soon after launch to less than $3 as of Thursday, costing many buyers a combined loss of billions of dollars. The coin can’t buy anything; it is only a trading instrument.
Senators Warren, Adam Schiff (D-CA), and Richard Blumenthal (D-OR) have demanded details of the upcoming “gala” in a letter to the company that manages $TRUMP, Fight Fight Fight LLC.
“It is essential that Congress fully understand the extent to which President Trump and his family are profiting off of his cryptocurrency ventures," they wrote.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
