Photo-Illustration: Intelligencer; Photos: Getty Images
There have been a great many opportunities in recent months for wealthy people to buy access to Donald Trump, like his $1 million-per-plate PAC fundraiser in late April or his $1.5 million-per-plate fundraiser a few days later. But the president has taken his pay-to-dine schemes to new heights with a contest involving his meme coin, $TRUMP.
Just over two weeks ago, the president made an enticing proposal to his crypto fans: The top 220 owners of his cryptocurrency would be able to enjoy a black-tie-optional dinner at his golf course outside Washington, D.C., followed by a private tour of the White House the next day. Of the winners, the top 25 would be invited to a private reception with Trump. Democrats and government ethics watchdogs immediately warned that the sweepstakes was an obvious scheme to allow foreign interests to buy access to the president like never before. (Recent PAC fundraisers, for example, were limited by law to American donors.) With the contest wrapping up on Monday, it’s time to see who (probably) ponied up to meet the president.
Justin Sun
As the watchdogs warned, foreign capital dominated the contest, which was displayed on a leaderboard showing who owned the most $TRUMP coin and for how long, the two factors used to calculate the winners. An analysis by Bloomberg showed that 19 of the top 25 wallets showed that they were almost certainly owned by people operating outside the United States.
It can be difficult based on names alone to determine who is behind top accounts like “Woo” or “SKY.” Others are less difficult to parse out, like the number-one holder of Trump’s coin, an account named “Sun.”
Multiple analyses of the crypto wallet used by this account trace it back to Justin Sun, a Hong Kong-based crypto entrepreneur behind a company called Tron who has been a major supporter of Trump, investing $75 million in one of the president’s other crypto ventures. While a representative for Sun declined to comment on his $TRUMP purchases, he owns about $18.6 million worth of the coin at its current market price. Around $4.5 million of that sum came after Trump’s dinner announcement, according to Bloomberg.
Already, his investment in Trump’s crypto world appears to have paid off, with the Securities and Exchange Commission pausing a case against Sun for allegedly selling unregistered securities.
MemeCore
In second place is MeCo, which has been one of the few accounts in the sweepstakes who have been public in their pursuit. The wallet is owned by a crypto firm in Singapore called MemeCore, which has written on X that it is “aiming for #1 on the $TRUMP leaderboard.” The company, a crypto network that describes itself as supporting meme coins and online culture at large, has also solicited contributions, asking people to donate their $TRUMP coins to their race in exchange for a bonus.
“We’ve been watching the Trump meme coin project for quite some time,” Cherry Hsu, the company’s chief business officer, says in a statement. She added that MemeCore decided to make a “symbolic purchase” worth around $18 million after hearing about the dinner. She declined to state who would be attending for the company, but that they would hope to ask him: “Are you a meme, or the result of one?”
Kain Warwick
A former tennis coach and guitarist in a rock band in Boston, Warwick returned to his native country of Australia over a decade ago to found several crypto ventures, amassing millions in the process. While he has acknowledged that he purchased a substantial amount of $TRUMP coin in January, it is unclear if he is in the top 25.
“It would be great to be able to meet the president,” he told the New York Times. If he gets a few moments with Trump or his crypto-focused son Eric, he hopes to discuss how his policies could further support the industry. “That’s something that I wouldn’t have expected I would have the opportunity to be even in the position to do,” he said.
Ogle
Last September, World Liberty Financial — the family-owned firm that launched Trump’s other cryptocurrency USD1 — announced that an anonymous expert named Ogle would come on as an advisor to help with cybersecurity.
Ogle has founded a few crypto firms, but has made his reputation mostly by recovering millions from hackers who have broken into crypto exchanges. In a statement on X, he wrote that the dinner is attracting criticism because of its involvement with the crypto community:
“People are and will remain jelly of those who have put the time and effort into figuring out how crypto works and have done well because of it. People are and will remain upset that Trump is in office. People are and will remain afraid of change and new ways of thinking, and will criticize and attack those who believe in and try to push new paradigms.”
The account that appears to be associated with Ogle has about $3.25 million worth of $TRUMP coin, enough to earn him a spot in the private reception with the president.
Other anonymous crypto accounts
Each account on the Trump leaderboard has an associated crypto wallet, on which their activity on the blockchain — the ledger on which all crypto activity is recorded — can be traced. Journalist Molly White was able to identify several of these wallets, including for users who go by names like Smooth Operator, Booblino, GiantBabyCorn, and 0xSolarcurve.
This could create a strange dynamic at the Trump National Golf Course Washington D.C. on May 22. Will all these users, many of whom take extreme measures to keep their identities private, actually show up for the dinner? And how will they respond to the gilded environs of a Trump-branded resort?
Who are the losers?
Some investors who purchased moments after Trump announced his meme coin on January 18 made terrific gains on the speculative asset, tens of thousands of investors have lost money since they bought in near the highs of around $74. It is currently trading at around $13.
There surely must be some frustrated investors among those vying to meet with the president. The contest gives more value to $TRUMP holders who bought the coin earlier, so those that bought a large number in January are more likely to be on the leaderboard than someone who just bought in. But thanks to a glitch in the accounting, there are several accounts who invested early and have now cashed out that own zero $TRUMP coins but are still on the leaderboard. Surely that must be annoying for an investor like “BiH1,” who owns over $6 million worth of the coin but is just shy of the top 25. Meanwhile, the account “Top” has made the cut to meet privately with Trump, despite owning about $1 in the coin.
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