Donald Trump will host a top cryptocurrency holder at the gala tonight at a private golf club near Washington, DC. The president calls the $Trump Token “the greatest of all of them!!!!!!!”, but according to a Guardian analysis of public cryptocurrency wallets, almost half of Gala’s guests suffered losses from purchasing it.
Participants are winners of the US President’s Meme Coin Contest. Last month, Trump announced that the 220 crypto wallets with the largest Trump holdings from April 23 to May 12 will win tickets for a private dinner at Trump National Golf Club. Additionally, top 25 owners will be invited to a “private VIP reception” with the president in advance. This news has caused a surge in coins by more than 50%.
Buyers were ranked under “time-weighted” Holdings, reaching 11.3 million coins. Coin-promoted participants snap to the top of the leaderboard. However, an analysis of the Guardians of Crypto Wallets on the Solana blockchain suggests that many people were burned along the way.
Of the 220 winners, 95 – about 43% – have suffered a net loss after purchasing a total of $8.95m, totalling $8.95m, since Coin’s January launch, according to its trading history and portfolio as of May 21.
The contestant under the username “Gant” appears to have endured the biggest loss. Despite being fourth on the leaderboard, purchasing the token caused a $1.06 million shortfall. Similarly, users’ “Meow” has dropped by $621,000 despite achieving VIP status.
This is in line with a wider trend. According to data from chain dialysis from cryptocurrency and blockchain analytics firms, 764,000 wallets belong primarily to small owners – are believed to have lost money in $ Trump. Meanwhile, only 58 wallets earn more than $10 million each when purchasing coins per chain analysis. Cryptocurrency peaked the day before the president took office, 68% below its all-time high.
Approximately 40% of Gala participants own less than one $Trump token. Among them are buyers who bought coins in the days of their first hype and dumped them when the price hits the zenith. For example, users’ “Uvil” earn more than $7 million from the president’s coin, while “Boop” and “Woo” each earn more than $2 million. Dinner ticket winners attended between $55,000 and $37.7 million, with a seat price averaged $1 million, according to data from blockchain analytics firm Nansen, published by NBC.
So, although participants are not necessarily the current owners of Trump Coin, “the people who pumped them up and dumped them,” said James Angel, a professor of financial regulations at Georgetown University. “Picking a clown shows you get a circus.”
Guardian’s calculations assume that the transfer and sales from the wallet were sales at the time at the market price, but this cannot be proven in all transactions.
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The Trump administration is not directly involved in managing $Trump. However, the president can benefit from token sales and transaction fees. The entities belonging to Trump – in particular, CIC Digital LLC and Fight Fight Fight LLC issued coins and owned 80% of the supply. According to chain melting data issued by CNBC, these entities had earned a transaction fee of $320 million at six points.
Trump’s organization did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The president’s praise for his high-risk and opaque assets is consistent with the broader easing of financial regulations. Until recently, the Securities and Exchange Commission saw most cryptocurrencies as securities rather than commodities. However, under new leadership, regulators issued guidance stating that “neither the meme coin buyer nor the holder are protected by federal securities laws” because meme coins are “like collectibles.” In that view, the sale of $Trump is not subject to the same disclosure required for stocks or bonds, and the President’s affiliates are not considered as unregistered issuers of securities.
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Despite the SEC’s view, experts say that the unique terms of this particular memecoin could justify securities classification regardless.
Corey Frey, director of investor protection for the nonprofit American Consumer Federation, believes $Trump can pass the Howie test. This is a legal framework used to determine whether a transaction is eligible as an investment contract under the securities law.
“Promoting these tokens to reasonable investors creates profit expectations related to the whole scheme they think they’re buying,” Frey says.
Furthermore, the fact that Trump entities own most of the supply, combined with the president’s influence over crypto policy, could expose the public to market manipulation and suggest the need to protect securities laws, Angel said.
Possible attendee identity also raised ethical concerns about the risks of pay and play policymaking. The leaderboard topping is Justin San, a Chinese-born crypto billionaire who founded the Tron blockchain. Sun was charged with manipulating the market and providing unregistered securities in 2023, but the SEC dropped the lawsuit in February.
Companies with strategic policy incentives have also spent a lot of money on reaching Trump. A cross-border logistics company called freight technology has purchased $20 million worth of tokens, calling it an “effective way to defend free trade between Mexico and the United States.” Plus, we are GD Culture Group, a small high-tech company that runs an e-commerce business on Tiktok. GD, which owns a Chinese subsidiary, has announced plans to buy up to $300 million worth of Trump, the New York Times reported, but did not specify whether the spending has begun.
“Coin definitely benefits Trump’s family business, and that’s another way (the president) can cash out to celebrities,” Angel says. “But the real question is, is this the greatest benefit of the United States?”