At Trump’s $148 million meme coin dinner, ‘the food sucked’ and security was lax, attendee says

Key Points

• The price of Donald Trump’s meme coin plunged 16% hours after the president hosted a black-tie gala at his Virginia golf club for its biggest buyers.
• Among the 220 attendees were crypto influencers, industry executives such as Sandy Carter of Unstoppable Domains and former NBA star Lamar Odom.
• Trump delivered a brief address rehashing old crypto talking points, then left on a helicopter before taking any questions or pictures with his meme coin contest winners, an attendee said.

The price of President Donald Trump’s meme coin fell 16% Friday morning, just hours after he hosted a black-tie gala at his Virginia golf club for his biggest buyers — an elite crowd that spent a total of $148 million on the token for the chance to go there.

It was described as “the world’s most exclusive invite.”

The 220 attendees included crypto influencers, industry executives such as Unstoppable Domains’ Sandy Carter, and former NBA star Lamar Odom, who used the occasion to praise Trump as “the greatest president” and promote his own token, $ODOM.

The top 25 wallets were promised a private reception and guided tour. Others, such as 25-year-old Nicholas Pinto — whose father drove him to the event in his Lamborghini — were disappointed and still hungry.

“The food was terrible,” Pinto said. “I was not offered any drinks other than water or Trump’s wine. I don’t drink alcohol, so I drank water. My glass was only refilled once.” Pinto said Trump only visited briefly. “He didn’t talk to any of the 220 guests — maybe the top 25,” he said. In total, the president was there for 23 minutes, Pinto said. He said Trump gave a brief address in which he reiterated old crypto clichés and then left in a helicopter before taking any questions or photos with the winners of his meme coin contest. According to Pinto, the phones were not sealed in RFID pouches and security was lax. “Once Trump left, he didn’t worry about anything else,” Pinto said.

The crowd’s opulence was on full display.

“Richard Mille watches aren’t even rare,” Pinto said. “I saw at least 16 people wearing them. I never see that unless I go to a high-end restaurant in Miami or Dubai.”

But the atmosphere was quieter than expected, he said: “A lot of people weren’t even holding a coin anymore. They were checking their phones during dinner to see if there was any change in the price.”

CNBC has contacted Trump’s representatives for comment on the dinner and the attendees.

Protests

For lawmakers and regulators, this dinner set off alarm bells.

The #1 token holder was Chinese-born crypto mogul Justin Sun, who is currently facing Securities and Exchange Commission fraud charges that were recently halted, with the agency citing “public interest.”

Sun holds more than $22 million in $TRUMP tokens and more than $75 million in World Liberty Financial’s native token.

“As the top holder of $TRUMP and a proud supporter of President Trump, it was an honor to attend the Trump Gala Dinner,” Sun posted on Friday. “Thank you @POTUS for your unwavering support for our industry!”

According to NBC News, about a hundred protesters gathered outside the gates of the Trump National Golf Club in Potomac Falls, Virginia. Senator Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., joined them, along with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., in supporting a new End Crypto Corruption Act.

The signs read “Crypto Corruption” and “Trump is a Traitor.”

Crypto on Capitol Hill

“The Trump family’s activity in the memecoin space has further complicated my work in Congress,” Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., told CNBC on Friday. Hill, who is leading negotiations on a bipartisan stablecoin regulation bill known as the Genius Act, called the ceremony a “distraction from the good work we’re doing.” Now, the Genius Act is under threat. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., recently added a controversial rider to the bill that would limit credit card late fees — which is being seen as a poison pill that could alienate banking allies and prevent final approval.

While the meme coin competition dinner was underway Thursday night, a group of Senate Democrats announced they were pushing for a new provision that would prevent presidents and senior officials from profiting from crypto ventures while in office — a direct challenge to the Trump-linked stablecoin USD1, which was launched in the spring.

In Washington, there are growing concerns that the political battle over Trump’s crypto ventures could derail the stablecoin bill altogether. That’s an even bigger risk.

According to the Wall Street Journal, major banks including JPMorgan, Bank of America and Citi are in early talks to issue a unified digital dollar to compete with Tether, a foreign-controlled stablecoin that now holds more than 60% of global market share.

These plans depend on legal clarity.

If the Genius Act stalls, the US could lose its chance to regain its position in the global race for digital payments.

The White House has tried to draw a line between President Trump and private businessman Trump.

Press Secretary Caroline Levitt told reporters when asked about the transparency of attendees, “The President is attending this in his private time. This is not a White House dinner.”

The administration declined to release the guest list. But blockchain data — and a patchwork of photos of guests — tell part of the story.

A Bloomberg News analysis found that all but six of the top 25 wallets used overseas exchanges, apparently restricted to U.S. users. More than half of the top 220 wallets were linked to similar offshore platforms.

Freight Technologies, a penny stock listed on the Nasdaq, disclosed in an SEC filing that it spent $2 million on Trump’s token to push U.S.-Mexico trade policy. It didn’t make the cut for the dinner — finishing in 250th place.

Since its launch in January, the $TRUMP coin has earned more than $324 million in trading fees. About 80% of the $TRUMP token supply is controlled by the Trump Organization and affiliates, according to the project’s website.

Trump’s parallel token WLFI has sold $550 million in two token sales.

Still, White House AI and crypto veteran David Sacks remained optimistic on “significant bipartisan support” for stablecoin legislation.

“We already have over $200 billion in stablecoins — it’s just unregulated,” Sachs told CNBC’s “Closing Bell Overtime” on Wednesday. “If we provide the legal clarity and the legal framework for this, I think we can generate trillions of dollars of demand for our Treasuries very quickly, overnight.”

“We’re very hopeful now that it’s going to pass,” Sachs said, though he did not answer a question about Democrats’ concerns that there aren’t enough safeguards to prevent the president and his family from benefiting from the legislation.

While Sachs sold $200 million in crypto-related holdings before taking the White House job, according to a disclosure filing, Trump and his family are leaning toward building a crypto empire.

Trump is a financial backer of World Liberty Financial, which is behind the USD1 stablecoin backed by Treasury and dollar deposits.

Abu Dhabi’s MGX investment fund recently pledged to invest $2 billion in USD1 to Binance, the world’s largest digital asset exchange. This is the company’s largest investment in crypto to date.