A new report from blockchain research firm Kaiko highlights that teasing a chance to attend a VIP dinner — and possibly meet President Donald Trump — triggered a massive surge in trading activity for his official meme coin.
The spike followed a 23 April announcement detailing plans for an exclusive dinner reserved for the top 220 TRUMP holders.
According to Kaiko, the news fuelled $2.4 billion in onchain transfers and a 200% jump in onchain activity, with nearly 10,000 wallets moving the token.
It stated:
"On Wednesday, April 23, the team behind the official memecoin announced plans for an exclusive dinner for the top 220 holders, with the top 25 receiving a meet-and-greet with the sitting president."
TRUMP’s price also soared 60% that day, climbing from $9 to $14.50. It is now trading at $14.32, a 0.57% drop in the last 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap.
Kaiko described it as "the busiest day of the month for the token" and noted it achieved "its highest daily trading volume on centralised exchanges since mid-February."
Additionally, the firm observed a notable rise in activity from smaller wallets on the Solana blockchain, with more users transferring modest amounts of TRUMP tokens:
“Typically, around 46% of active wallets transfer less than $10k worth of TRUMP, but this jumped to 75% following the announcement. Most of this surge came from very small transfers (under $1k), which alone made up 47.2% of active wallets.”
Kaiko’s report highlights that while President Trump is challenging the perception that meme coins lack value, his latest move has sparked significant controversy.
Both political opponents and ethics advocates have raised concerns over the president offering exclusive access to those who purchase his official meme coin.
Senator Jon Ossoff went as far as calling for Trump’s impeachment, condemning the initiative as unethical and warning that it dangerously blurs the lines between politics, personal profit, and public trust.
Adding another layer to the controversy, on-chain data revealed suspicious activity.
The day after the announcement, a user identified as “Sun” appeared to register for the event, according to Arkham Intelligence, raising speculation that the address could be tied to Justin Sun — the Tron founder and known Trump supporter.
Sun had previously announced a $30 million investment by Tron into the Trump-affiliated DeFi project, World Liberty Financial, where he now serves as an advisor.
Further complicating the narrative, Chainalysis reported that Trump-linked meme coin activities have generated hundreds of millions of dollars in cryptocurrency profits for entities connected to the president.
Although trading volumes have cooled since the announcement, Kaiko predicts another surge may soon be on the horizon.
The research firm noted:
"Volumes have since tapered off as the euphoria waned, similar to onchain activity. However, based on the website’s rules for the competition, we can expect to see more activity in the coming weeks. The rules stipulate that the top 220 average TRUMP holders between April 23 and May 12 will be eligible for the dinner. Increased activity is likely as the deadline approaches and holders move funds back on-chain to qualify for the event.”
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