On the evening of May 22, 2025, local time, 220 cryptocurrency investors gathered at a golf club on the Potomac River to have a sumptuous dinner with Trump and enjoy the "magnificent view of the Potomac River". The ticket was the meme coin $TRUMP officially issued by Trump.
This dinner is nothing less than a gilded game in the crypto industry. It was jointly announced on April 23 by CIC Digital LLC (a subsidiary of the Trump family's conglomerate) and Fight Fight Fight LLC. They promoted this event as "the most distinguished invitation in the world" and provided lucky attendees with the opportunity to "listen to President Trump talk about the future of cryptocurrency in person."
Before the dinner, the official announcement prohibited guests from live streaming or carrying video recording equipment. However, as of now, this requirement does not seem to have been implemented. On X and WeChat Moments, many guests have begun to post their own photos of the dinner. Based on the currently public photos of the scene, BlockBeats has reviewed and sorted out the dinner and some interesting details.
It is reported that in addition to Justin Sun, well-known entrepreneurs in the cryptocurrency circle, such as Ronin Network co-founder Jihoz.ron and Magic Eden co-founder and CEO Jack Lu, were present and posted updates on social media about their participation in the banquet. Trump himself maintained his classic appearance and landed at Mar-a-Lago in a Marine One helicopter.
TRUMP dinner scene, source from X
After the host’s brief introduction, Trump walked out of the curtain and gave a brief speech to the guests on the scene. Interestingly, when introducing Trump, the host once again "saluted the people" and used very "anti-establishment" words such as "crypto president" and "47th President of the United States."
Photos of Trump's appearance, source from X
The menu of the dinner "worth $55,000" was also exposed on the social platform. According to the photos taken on site, the menu starts with appetizers, offering the heirloom tomato burrata cheese salad to all $TRUMP holders, with fresh basil pesto, Italian balsamic vinegar and tender green sprouts.
There are three main course options: fillet steak with mellow red wine sauce, mashed potatoes and asparagus; or pan-fried salmon with lemon cream sauce, wild rice and asparagus; vegetarian guests can choose stuffed mushrooms, which are filled with nutritious quinoa and spinach, served with roasted red pepper sauce. Finally, the silky and rich chocolate mousse cake is the dessert.
Photos of dishes at the dinner, source from the Internet
Similar dishes are common "white meals" in the United States, which are sold in Trump Tower in New York and Trump International Hotel in Chicago. The editor roughly calculated the prices of the dishes for today's dinner based on the menus of these two restaurants.
Trump Tower and hotel menus, source from Trump Tower official website
Take TRUMP GRILL in New York as an example. The top salad with extra prawns costs $32, the New York prime sirloin steak upgraded with black truffle fries costs $53, and the Brooklyn Black Forest cake with Luxardo cherries, Tahitian vanilla, fresh cream and chocolate sauce costs $15, for a total of $100. With a generous 20% tip and about 9% sales tax, the total came to no more than $130.
Trump Tower restaurant and dishes, source from Trump Tower official website
However, according to the requirements for participating in the dinner, the 220th and last guest of TRUMP coin held 4,196.117 TRUMP coins, which is worth approximately US$55,000 based on the closing price of TRUMP when the list was locked on May 12. Cryptocurrency guys are really trying hard to eat a white meal from Trump.
Another thing that attracted everyone's attention at the meeting was the "Trump Gold Watch" worn by Justin Sun. At this banquet, the top 25 top investors enjoyed a private VIP reception with Trump, and the top four investors also received a limited edition "Trump Tourbillon" watch. As the top holder of TRUMP, Justin Sun became one of the guests who received the gift.
Sun Yuchen wears Trump Tourbillon watch at the dinner, source from X
According to official statements, each watch is worth $100,000. Each Trump Tourbillon watch is numbered, worth $100,000, and is limited to 147 pieces worldwide. President Trump owns watch No. 1. Whether it is the "hunger marketing" of the watch or the extravagant color matching of "tycoon gold", it has Trump's strong personal characteristics.
Three Trump Tourbillon watches, source from Trump Tourbillon official website
Trump's love for gold is the symbol of his personal brand. He regards gold as a symbol of power. From Trump Tower in New York to Trump International Hotel and Mar-a-Lago in Florida, golden decorations can be seen everywhere. The Oval Office of the White House was decorated with gold and splendor by him, including gold badges, gold statues, gold paperweights and coasters, all of which reflect his taste and preference. In Trump's eyes, white represents surrender and weakness, while gold is a symbol of supremacy, just as he regards "whoever has the gold makes the rules" as the "golden rule" of negotiation.
White House interior; Trump golden paperweight; Trump account, source from X
It is worth noting that this crypto dinner is not the only crypto event Trump has held this month. On May 5, Trump held a dinner for cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence innovators at the Trump National Golf Club in Virginia. The standard for admission to the fundraising dinner was $1.5 million per person, and special guest David Sacks was also invited. It was one of the most expensive political fundraisers in recent years.
According to the New York Times, Trump's series of "copper-flow corruption" behaviors have been criticized by all walks of life, including the Democratic Party. On May 23, protesters gathered outside the Trump National Golf Club in Washington to protest the crypto dinner held for the top holders of Trump memecoin. At the entrance to the dinner, dozens of protesters shouted "Shame, shame, shame", and protesters held slogans such as "Stop Crypto Corruption", "Publish the Guest List" and "No King".
Protesters outside the dinner, source from X
Perhaps in order to reduce the impact, the agenda for the 25 VIPs to visit the White House was also deleted from the $TRUMP website.
Among the protesters was Jeff Merkley, a Democratic senator from Oregon, who shouted at the entrance of Trump's golf course: "This is the crypto corruption club" and called the dinner "the Mount Everest of corruption."
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren said that Trump's private dinner with his token holders may constitute a corrupt act of "using power for personal gain" and called for an ethics investigation. U.S. Senator Jon Ossoff publicly called for Trump's impeachment, saying, "When the current president of the United States sells access rights to people who actually pay him directly, there is no doubt that this reaches the level of an impeachable offense."
In addition, the U.S. Constitution stipulates that federal officials may not accept gifts from foreign governments, and the $TRUMP token holders are anonymous, so it is difficult to rule out foreign forces from purchasing tokens to gain political access opportunities. Democratic Senator Warren has joined nine members of Congress to write to the Office of Ethics, asking for an investigation into whether Trump has accepted bribes in disguise through token sales.
$TRUMP was launched on the Solana chain on January 17, 2025, with an initial total issuance of 1 billion. 20 million (20%) were sold through the ICO, and the remaining 80 million were held by the above two companies, accounting for 80%. In the days after trading began, the value of the 20% TRUMP tokens issued soared to $14 billion. On paper, Trump's net worth increased by tens of billions of dollars almost overnight.
Since then, the value of the coin has fallen by more than 80% from its peak. But Trump's announcement of the dinner on April 23 triggered another trading frenzy, causing the price of memecoin to soar. As market intermediaries, Fight Fight Fight and CIC Digital may have earned hundreds of thousands of dollars from transaction fees.
Currently, the most popular video circulating at the dinner is from Justin Sun. As the "big brother on the list", he thanked Trump for everything he has done for the crypto industry on the podium. He said: "Just 100 days ago, they were hunting down cryptocurrency people everywhere, and we couldn't have held such a grand event in Washington. All the people in the cryptocurrency circle gathered in the United States to do cryptocurrency things. This is the best thing I can think of in my life."
Justin Sun delivered a speech at the dinner. The picture source is from X
As a major supporter of Trump, Justin Sun invested $75 million in Trump's family project World Liberty Financial (WLFI). Subsequently, his pending civil fraud case was stopped by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on the grounds of the interests of both parties and the "public interest."
The SEC's move was questioned by lawmakers at a congressional hearing on May 21. Maryland Democratic Congressman Glenn Ivey questioned SEC Chairman Paul Atkins' relationship with President Trump's Meme coin and cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun, saying that "something smells wrong" and hoped that the SEC would investigate the matter.
As Trump's personal interests become more and more closely tied to the crypto industry, the Democratic Party's doubts about Trump's use of the crypto industry for corruption and abuse of power for personal gain have become increasingly louder, and have also affected the progress of crypto legislation.
On May 22, the stablecoin "GENIUS Act" passed the debate motion with 69 votes in favor and 31 votes against, entering the revision process. The bill may become the first federal-level stablecoin regulatory framework in the United States, and is generally believed by the industry to be likely to reshape the entire stablecoin market.
But the next day, the Democrats rejected the bill. On May 23, Axios reported that senior Democrats, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Senator Elizabeth Warren and Jeff Merkley, would submit an amendment to the GENIUS Act to prevent the US President from profiting from stablecoins.
Previously, the Democrats had fiercely obstructed the bill. On May 9, the U.S. Senate rejected the bill, and Democrats demanded the inclusion of clauses that explicitly prohibited administrative officials, including Trump and his family members, from holding or trading cryptocurrencies, and strengthened anti-corruption clauses.
The Democrats' questioning of Trump's interests first came from a report in the Wall Street Journal.
On March 13, 2025, the Wall Street Journal broke the news that the Trump family was in talks to acquire a large stake in Binance.US. Although it was strongly denied by CZ, it was certified by Bloomberg and hinted that the two sides would soon launch a stablecoin. And this stablecoin is the USD1 that was recently launched on Binance. That month, MGX, an investment company based in Abu Dhabi, announced that it would invest $2 billion to buy shares in Binance, but at that time, everyone was not clear about the specific channels for investing in Binance.
At the end of April, WLFI and CZ's official social media accounts released photos of the three co-founders of WLFI meeting with CZ in Abu Dhabi. On May 1, Trump's second son Eric Trump said that the US dollar stablecoin (USD1) issued by World Liberty Financial has been officially selected as the official stablecoin for completing MGX's $2 billion investment in Binance.
CZ meets with the founder of WLFI, source from X
When the lights of the dinner on the banks of the Potomac River came on, the krypton gold players and the traffic president completed a two-way run, and the essence of this crypto carnival has long surpassed the simple currency circle hype. It is not only another explosion of Sun's marketing, but also the realization of the high degree of integration of political power and virtual assets. The absurd contrast of "big banquets indoors and demonstrations outdoors" also shows that the attitudes of the two parties in the United States towards encryption are increasingly antagonistic.
Whether he really wants to help the industry rise, or wants to create a new ATM for his family, this "crypto president" is getting more and more on the cusp of the storm. The grand encryption dinner may be just an ambitious show, and what kind of storm will be set off in the party struggle later, everything is still unknown.
The proposed XRP ETF, potentially launching this year with BlackRock at the helm, reflects the growing integration of cryptocurrencies into mainstream finance, awaiting crucial legal verdicts.
BrianThe newly acquired funds will play a pivotal role in expediting the development of Quora's AI chatbot platform, Poe.
AlexThe U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission denied Bitcoin ETF approval after an alleged hack compromised its social media account. The incident triggered a surge and subsequent drop in Bitcoin prices, raising concerns about cybersecurity and prompting calls for increased accountability and security measures in regulatory bodies.
JoyUSDC's market cap falls to a two-year low amid banking crises, rising interest rates, and stiff competition from USDT.
BrianCoinbase intensifies advocacy for clear crypto regulation in the U.S., launching campaigns and engaging with policymakers.
SnakeBabyDoge community proposes strategies to revitalise token, focusing on cross-chain liquidity, token burns, and staking farm revival.
KikyoPeer-to-peer crypto trading, exemplified by ChaiDEX, is reshaping the blockchain landscape with its decentralized, secure, and user-centric approach.
Brian2024 AML Trends: Crypto Regulation, Real Estate Scrutiny, AI Integration.
SnakeBT.Finance, leveraging the Ethereum ecosystem, offers a secure and diversified yield generation platform with specialized vaults and expert strategic guidance, redefining DeFi investment standards.
KikyoUnder the recently introduced pricing model, each chain is expected to contribute an annual value of $1 million in SKL tokens when the network load hits 70%.
Alex