According to chain analysis, President Donald Trump and his team pulled in nearly $900,000 in transaction fees in just two days through $Trump’s crypto token.
Cash has flooded after the announcement that $220 for $220 on Wednesday would win a Black Tie optional dinner with him at a private club near Washington, DC on May 22
The event promises a special reception for the top 25 token holders, and the website will also promote the “VIP White House Tour” the following day. Active leaderboards track buyer usernames and scramble to get seats.
Already meme-heavy assets, Trump’s coins rose more than 50% in price after the dinner announcement, pushing its total market value to $2.7 billion. The president’s political rival quickly condemned the move.
Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut, posted to X that it was “the bravestly corrupt thing the president has ever done.”
Trump’s Circle Controls Tokens’ Benefits, Critics Request an Inquiry
The Trump Organization and its affiliates currently control about 80% of the $Trump Token supply based on information from the project’s website. Since the token was launched in January, trading fees have been collected in approximately $324.5 million.
Every time a transaction is made, according to the same website, a slice of the transaction is sent directly to a wallet managed by the people behind the token. Chainalysis confirmed that this setup will continue to flow money into a wallet connected to the project creator.
Most of the tokens are trapped in a three-year vesting plan. This means that it will be released gradually to avoid sudden dumps to the market. Such lockups are supposed to build trust by preventing insiders from cashing out quickly and destroying the token price.
Even with the lockup, the dinner contest issued an alarm. Senators Adam Schiff of California and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts have asked the U.S. Government Ethics Office to investigate whether they would offer dinner with Trump to buy tokens. They warned that the event blurred the line between political access and economic benefits and smelled like corruption to pay.
Ethical commentators call fouls so foreign ties surface among holders
Delaney Marsco, who leads the ethics work at the Campaign Legal Center, told NBC News that the $Trump Contest is a clear violation of traditional ethics, but it is probably not ruled illegal.
“The Criminal Antagonism Act does not apply to the President,” Marsco said. She pointed out modern presidents as Carter has stepped away from business interests to avoid conflict, but Trump uses loopholes to keep his financial relationships alive.
“The fact that he is not prohibited by law from having these economic benefits like this meme coin allows him to engage in many seemingly corrupt activities. The president is clearly selling access to himself, as it has the emergence of a salary to play,” Marsko said.
Molly White, an independent cryptography researcher; I explained it $Trump’s leaderboard hides actual identity by only displaying screen names. White warned that it is impossible to know who is spending access to dinner.
She also said some $Trump buyers are tied up to foreign crypto exchanges banned in the US, including Binance. Despite the platform being closed to American users, at least one of the top holders has an active Binance account.
Schiff and Warren supported the ethical complaints in a public report showing that funds from banned crypto platforms could be linked to $Trump investments. They forced the government’s ethics bureau to delve into how deep the foreign connections could become.
Trump’s return to the White House was heavily supported by the crypto industry, which poured tens of millions of dollars into the 2024 election. This cash has beaten donations from older industries such as banks and oil.
In addition to $Trump, there is also the $Melania Token, backed by his first family. They are also tied to World Liberty Financial, a decentralized finance company that has raised $550 million since October and raised $550 million through two token sales.
Buyers of these tokens are prohibited from reselling and do not share profits. Instead, the Trump-related company claims 75% of its net revenue, including revenue from token sales.
