Major Buyers Of 'Trump Coin' Invited To Presidential Dinner; Trump's Allies Reportedly Earn $900,000 Overnight

Earlier this year, U.S. President Donald Trump launched a meme coin featuring his portrait, dubbed "Trump Coin." According to the token's official website, the top 220 holders of Trump Coin will be invited to a private dinner with Trump in Washington, D.C., on May 22.

The event, hosted at Trump's private club, will allow attendees to dress casually. The following day, guests will participate in an exclusive VIP tour of the White House. The website has already established a public leaderboard displaying the pseudonyms of top holders.

This announcement triggered a 50% surge in Trump Coin's price, pushing its total market capitalization to nearly $2.7billion. Blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis reported that Trump and his allies passively earned approximately $900,000 in transaction fees from the token over the past two days.

Since its January launch, Trump Coin's trading activity has generated roughly $324.5 million in fees for insiders through an embedded mechanism that directs proceeds to wallets linked to the token's creators.

Trump Coin's launch initially sparked controversy, and the VIP dinner-and-tour offer has reignited scrutiny. Democratic Senators Adam Schiff and Elizabeth Warren warned on Friday that the event could constitute a "pay-to-play scheme," urging Congress to investigate potential ethics violations.

They cited reports alleging ties between Trump Coin investors and foreign exchanges. The senators also questioned whether ethics officials had advised Trump or his family on profiting from digital assets during his presidency.

Delaney Marsco, ethics director at the nonprofit Campaign Legal Center, called the token and dinner promotion an "unprecedented ethical breach," though likely not illegal. Marsco explained that criminal conflict-of-interest laws do not apply to U.S. presidents, enabling Trump to flout longstanding ethical norms. While the funds may enter the White House through clean financial channels, she argued Trump is effectively "peddling influence" through legally permissible but "corruption-adjacent" activities.

Independent crypto researcher Molly White noted the leaderboard's anonymity-showing only pseudonyms-raises transparency concerns about who might gain privileged White House access.