NewsHail
23 May 2025
US President Donald Trump held a special dinner for the biggest buyers of a new cryptocurrency called $TRUMP. Some protesters and Democrat leaders said this was "corrupt."
$TRUMP started just before Trump took office in January. Its price went up fast but then fell a lot.
Democrat Senator Chris Murphy said on X, "It's corrupt – a way to buy access to the President."
Protesters stood outside the dinner on Thursday night at a golf course near Washington DC. Some held signs saying "stop crypto corruption" and "no kings."
The White House said these claims were wrong. In a video from the dinner, Trump said, "I always put the country way ahead of the business."
He also said, "The Biden team hurt crypto makers, but we are bringing them back to the USA."
The dinner happened while Bitcoin, the top cryptocurrency, was near a new high of almost $112,000 per coin before dropping a bit.
What is $TRUMP?
$TRUMP is a "meme coin." This means it is a type of crypto based on internet jokes or trends.
Its price reached $75 in January but dropped below $8 in April. Now, it trades around $12.50.
Rob Hadick, a crypto expert, said, "It has no real use. People don’t use it to pay or save money."
The dinner was listed on the site gettrumpmemes.com as "the most EXCLUSIVE INVITATION in the World."
The top 220 buyers, shown on a leaderboard, got invited to the event, which was "black-tie optional."
The biggest buyer of $TRUMP is billionaire Justin Sun. He was charged with fraud by the US SEC during Biden’s time but the Trump team paused the case.
Sun said on X he would come to the dinner and called himself Trump’s "TOP fan!"
He posted on X that it was an "honour" to be there.
Democratic senators held a news meeting to say the dinner was wrong and asked who was going.
Senator Elizabeth Warren called the dinner "an orgy of corruption" and said Trump used the presidency to get richer from crypto.
From Critic to Investor
Trump’s view on crypto changed a lot in recent years.
In 2021, he said Bitcoin was a "scam."
Now, he runs the rules on crypto and also invests in it.
The Trump family owns most of a crypto exchange called World Liberty Financial, started before the election.
Trump wants to be the first "Crypto President" and got big crypto donations for his 2024 campaign.
A report said Trump’s crypto investments might have added $2.9 billion to his net worth.
The report said, "Trump may earn money from the rules he makes."
Three days after starting his job, Trump signed an order to help digital currencies grow.
A Trump official told the BBC the $TRUMP coin is not linked to the White House.
White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said, "The President is making GOOD deals for the American people, not for himself."
But a former financial expert said the coin is like gambling.
Timothy Massad from Harvard said, "It’s like selling fan club cards. They have no real value, but people guess the price and that makes Trump richer."
At a Senate hearing, Democrat Chris Murphy asked Secretary of State Marco Rubio about who would attend the dinner.
Murphy said many guests might be rich foreigners.
He said, "There seems to be a way for rich foreigners to get close to the President."
Rubio said, "I don’t think dinner will harm US security," and that he didn’t know about the dinner.
