With just days to go before Donald Trump hosts a private dinner for top holders of his meme coin at his Virginia golf club, a deep dive into the $TRUMP token leaderboard reveals that the majority of invitees are likely based outside the United States.
The exclusive event, set for May 22, will welcome the top 220 wallets holding the $TRUMP meme coin. The final list was locked on Monday night, but many of the largest wallets remain shrouded in anonymity, raising questions about who will actually be sitting at the table with the former U.S. president.
Blockchain analytics from Inca Digital, reviewed by CNBC, show that many of the top 275 $TRUMP holders conduct their transactions through global crypto exchanges such as Binance, which does not serve U.S. users. This suggests that a large portion of the dinner’s attendees will not be Americans.
Further research by Bloomberg found that at least 19 of the top 25 wallets are almost certainly controlled by individuals outside the U.S. Notably, crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun, founder of Tron and a native of China, is widely believed to top the $TRUMP leaderboard, having publicly stated he purchased $75 million worth of the Trump family’s World Liberty Financial token. His wallet, labeled “Sun,” holds over $18 million in $TRUMP, with a significant portion acquired after the dinner was announced.
Sun’s representative did not respond to requests for comment, leaving speculation swirling about whether he will attend. Meanwhile, Singapore-based crypto network MemeCore has secured the second spot with an $18 million stake, and an Australian investor has also reportedly made the cut for the high-profile gathering.
The leaderboard reflects the token’s wild volatility. While 560,376 wallets have realized collective gains of $5.2 billion on the $TRUMP coin, an even larger number – 592,962 wallets – have suffered combined losses totaling $3.9 billion, according to Inca Digital. The data underscores the dramatic wealth transfer that has taken place within the Trump crypto ecosystem, where a handful of early adopters have profited massively, while the majority of participants have seen losses.
Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), the ranking member of the Senate Subcommittee on Investigations, has raised concerns that the Trump family’s expanding crypto empire could open a backdoor for foreign and corporate interests seeking influence with the former president.
Some U.S.-based companies have also tried to gain a seat at the table. Houston-based Freight Technologies, a Nasdaq-listed logistics firm, purchased $2 million in $TRUMP tokens as part of a strategy to influence U.S.-Mexico trade policy, according to CEO Javier Selgas. However, the company ended up in 250th place, just outside the cutoff for the dinner.
The $TRUMP token, of which 80% is controlled by the Trump Organization and affiliated entities, has become a centerpiece of Trump’s broader crypto ambitions. Launched in January shortly before the inauguration, the token rocketed to a $15 billion market cap almost overnight, thanks in part to Trump’s own social media posts urging supporters to “celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING!”
However, the token’s meteoric rise was short-lived, with most of its value evaporating within days. A brief spike in April, triggered by news of the dinner, pushed the market cap back up to $2.7 billion, before another sharp decline.
Questions about transparency and influence continue to swirl, even as the White House maintains that Trump’s assets are managed in a trust by his children and insists there are “no conflicts of interest.”
