Trump to host 3rd ‘exclusive’ memecoin event amid corruption claims

The group behind US President Donald Trump’s memecoin announced that he will appear at a third event for his top tokenholders weeks after a report that investors in his crypto ventures had lost a combined $4.7 billion.

According to the GetTrumpMemes website, Trump will appear at his DC golf club on Nov. 22 alongside three unnamed guests. Attendance will be based on the top 185 memecoin holders, scored between Sept. 30 and Nov. 12.

In August, the nonprofit consumer advocacy organization Public Citizen estimated that investors in the Trump family’s crypto ventures were “$4.7 billion underwater” since 2022, with $3.2 billion in losses attributed to the memecoin. Market data showed that TRUMP’s price surged about 9% to $2.23 from $2.05 immediately after the dinner announcement on Wednesday.

Trump launched the memecoin shortly before his January 2025 inauguration, and the price surged sharply to $70 before dropping below $20 within days. At the time of publication, the token was trading at $2.06.

Related: Hunter Biden’s laptop controversy gets a memecoin afterlife

Memecoin dinners continue to draw ethics concerns

Many critics of the first memecoin event accused Trump of selling access to the presidency through “pay-to-play” schemes. Justin Sun, the founder of the Tron network and the top holder at the time of Trump’s May 2025 dinner, held about $19 million worth of the token. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), whose chair was picked by Trump, later settled a lawsuit against Sun for $10 million.

According to Trump’s 2025 disclosures, the president reported $1.4 billion in crypto-related earnings, including his TRUMP memecoin. A White House spokesperson referred Cointelegraph to the event organizers for comment.

“In the best case, the dinner is unethical and unconscionable profiteering off the presidency,“ Public Citizen co-president Robert Weissman told Cointelegraph. “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.“

Impact of president’s crypto ventures on market structure bill

The announcement of the Trump memecoin dinner came just a few weeks after lawmakers in the US Senate failed to advance the Digital Asset Market Clarity (CLARITY) Act, a bill expected to establish clear guidelines for financial agencies on the oversight and enforcement of cryptocurrencies. 

All Democrats present voted nay on the legislation, with some saying the bill’s ethics provision is not sufficient to address Trump profiting from the crypto industry.

The Senate has a limited window to address CLARITY before the next session of Congress in 2027. Many polls showed Democrats favored to take majority control of the House of Representatives and Senate, leaving the Republican-led bill’s future uncertain.

Magazine: Is there any chance left to save the CLARITY Act?