President Trump Plans Third 'VIP' Memecoin Gathering as Ethics Questions Mount
A Nov. 22 dinner at the president's Washington, DC golf club will bring together the top 185 memecoin holders, continuing a pattern established with similar gatherings in May 2025 and April 2026.
The organization responsible for promoting US President Donald Trump's memecoin has revealed plans for a third gathering with his largest tokenholders, coming just weeks after research showed his cryptocurrency projects had resulted in $4.7 billion in combined investor losses.
The GetTrumpMemes website, which markets the president's Official Trump (TRUMP) memecoin, announced on Wednesday that a Nov. 22 dinner will bring together the "top 185" tokeholders. This upcoming gathering represents the third occasion Trump has assembled his memecoin supporters for exclusive events, following a May 2025 dinner that hosted 220 TRUMP holders at the Trump National Golf Club in Washington, DC, and an April 2026 luncheon that welcomed 297 attendees to the president's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.
Based on information from the GetTrumpMemes website, Trump is set to make an appearance at his DC golf club on Nov. 22 with three guests whose identities have not been disclosed. Entry to the event will be determined by the top 185 memecoin holders, with rankings calculated between Sept. 30 and Nov. 12.
Public Citizen, a nonprofit organization focused on consumer advocacy, released an August estimate indicating that those who invested in the Trump family's cryptocurrency projects were "$4.7 billion underwater" from 2022 onward, with the memecoin accounting for $3.2 billion of these losses. Market information revealed that TRUMP's value increased approximately 9% from $2.05 to $2.23 in the immediate aftermath of Wednesday's dinner announcement.
The memecoin was introduced by Trump just before his January 2025 inauguration, with its price initially skyrocketing to $70 before plummeting below $20 in a matter of days. As of publication time, the token's trading price stood at $2.06.
Memecoin dinners continue to draw ethics concerns
Numerous detractors of the initial memecoin gathering claimed Trump was engaging in "pay-to-play" arrangements by monetizing presidential access. Justin Sun, who founded the Tron network and ranked as the largest holder during Trump's May 2025 dinner, possessed approximately $19 million in token value. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), led by a chair appointed by Trump, subsequently reached a $10 million settlement with Sun regarding a lawsuit.
Trump's 2025 financial disclosures indicated the president declared $1.4 billion in cryptocurrency-related income, with his TRUMP memecoin included in that total. When contacted by Cointelegraph, a White House spokesperson directed inquiries to the event organizers.
In the best case, the dinner is unethical and unconscionable profiteering off the presidency. People are buying the memecoin and eager to attend a dinner only because Trump is president. In the worst case, this is pay-to-play access to the president: spend enough on Trump's memecoin and you may get a chance to whisper to the President of the United States about a preferred policy, enforcement action or requested favor.
Robert Weissman, Public Citizen co-president
Senator Chris Coons, in a Bluesky post published Thursday, labeled the memecoin event as "corruption."
Impact of president's crypto ventures on market structure bill
The Trump memecoin dinner announcement arrived mere weeks following the US Senate's failure to move forward with the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act, legislation designed to create definitive guidelines for financial agencies regarding cryptocurrency oversight and enforcement.
Every Democrat in attendance cast nay votes on the proposed legislation, with several stating that the bill's ethics provisions fell short of adequately addressing Trump's financial gains from the cryptocurrency sector.
President Trump, his children, and his Cabinet are making billions of dollars in the crypto space, in part from bilking everyday Americans out of their hard-earned money. I cannot in good conscience vote for any legislation that codifies that behavior from public officials.
Senator Ellissa Slotkin
A narrow timeframe remains for the Senate to take action on CLARITY before Congress begins its next session in 2027. Numerous polling surveys indicated Democrats were positioned favorably to secure majority control of both the House of Representatives and Senate, creating uncertainty around the Republican-sponsored bill's prospects.