In the collision between traditional politics and the crypto world, a private "TRUMP Coin Dinner" hosted by Donald Trump is pushing this fusion to the extreme.
On the evening of May 23rd local time, a cryptocurrency bidding dinner called "TRUMP Gala" kicked off at the Trump National Golf Club in Washington. According to data from blockchain analysis platform Nansen, the event used the holding of TRUMP tokens as the entry threshold and eventually locked in 220 finalists - these crypto investors invested a total of nearly $394 million to win the opportunity to have dinner with Trump, with an average cost of more than $1.78 million per person.
But what really caused a stir in public opinion was the identity composition of this group - as many as 70% of the successful bidders did not seem to be American citizens.
1. The true cost behind the crypto bidding mechanism
Nansen’s on-chain tracking data shows that the prices of dinner “tickets” vary greatly:
The top 7 spent more than $10 million each, with the highest spending reaching $37.7 million.
The tail seats (197-220) cost less than $100,000;
But on average, each finalist invested approximately $1.78 million in TRUMP token bidding;
It is reported that the top winners include Justin Sun, a citizen of the Caribbean island nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis.
Although the Trump camp stated that the event was "not a fundraising activity" but "an interactive experience to thank supporters," the way it operates - determining entry qualifications through TRUMP token holdings - has essentially constituted a mechanism for allocating political access opportunities based on financial thresholds.
This mechanism not only breaks the rules of the traditional political donation system, but also transforms cryptocurrencies into political quasi-financial tools for establishing channels of relations with heads of state.
Mlion.ai's crypto governance dynamic tracking model points out that since the launch of the TRUMP token, its on-chain transaction structure has shown an obvious "whale concentration trend", indicating that this token has long surpassed the entertainment attributes of the Meme coin and entered the stage of political speculation.
2. Identity Doubts: 72% of “Winners” Are Suspected to Be Non-U.S. Citizens
Perhaps the most striking and controversial is the "nationality composition" of the participants.
According to analysis by independent crypto researcher Molly White, among the 220 winning addresses:
At least 158 wallets were from overseas exchanges using “non-US licenses”;
Most of the trading platforms used by these addresses are not open to US users;
Combining behavioral patterns, transaction usage, time preferences and other data, it is inferred that these users are most likely non-U.S. nationals;
(New York Times) The investigation also confirmed that participants included crypto executives from countries such as Singapore and Australia.
Under the current U.S. election law framework, non-U.S. citizens are expressly prohibited from making political donations to candidates directly or indirectly. Even in the form of token purchases, if the intention is deemed to "influence the political process," it is also suspected of being a violation.
Dan Weiner (Director of the Brennan Center for Justice) noted:
"We have a whole set of federal laws designed to prevent foreign powers from interfering with the American democratic process through financial means. This activity may be skirting those red lines."
3. Legal vacuum: “crypto arbitrage space” of presidential exemption
In the United States, federal officials are generally subject to strict "conflict of interest prohibitions" that prohibit them from using their official positions to engage in business activities. However, the president is one of the few exemptions from this prohibition.
This also explains why:
80% of the ownership of TRUMP tokens belongs to Trump-related companies (CIC Digital and Fight Fight Fight LLC);
All token transactions are automatically included in the platform transaction fee, and the bidding itself also generates about $900,000 in transaction commissions (Chainalysis data);
The event was held at Trump’s private estate;
The marketing channel mainly relies on Trump's social platform Truth Social;
All legal structures are designed to **avoid direct characterization of donations**.
This commercial-political closed-loop mechanism has established a new "crypto influence business model". Although its legitimacy has not been rejected, it has caused unprecedented regulatory concerns.
Mlion.ai’s governance compliance risk model has labeled the TRUMP token as a “politically sensitive asset,” alerting investors to the possibility that its price fluctuations may be driven by non-financial logic.
4. “Tokens are power”: a disillusioned projection of the decentralized ideal?
The deeper impact is that the structure and design of this "TRUMP Gala" reveals a countercurrent trend in the crypto asset ecosystem from "consensus equality" to "power empowerment."
Ding Zhaofei once pointed out:
“When a presidential ticket is determined by the price of Meme coins, and when speculation becomes a channel directly linked to politics, the crypto world is turning into a symbolic power casino.”
If Web3 has attempted to establish a decentralized power reconstruction, then this mechanism of binding tokens to power and exchanging holdings for access rights is essentially bidding for public power resources with money.
The Mlion.ai community sentiment map shows that "Meme politicization" has become one of the hottest topics on the X platform and Telegram this week, and "power coinage" has become a keyword for people to re-examine the future direction of encryption.
V. Possible future regulatory paths and market reactions
In the short term, the political controversy surrounding the “Crypto Dinner” has been widely covered by mainstream media and is expected to trigger the following trends in the coming weeks:
The SEC or Congress will discuss the intersection of meme coins and political funding compliance issues;
In the future, politicians’ involvement in crypto projects will be included in the disclosure review list;
Investors will face volatility in asset valuations due to “political risk”;
The price of the TRUMP token may fluctuate in the short term, but its trading activity will continue to remain high because its "symbolic asset" attribute will be enhanced.
Mlion.ai recommends that users strictly classify such assets and use the AI compliance analysis module to screen non-political assets for investment management to avoid the risk of major drawdowns due to narrative shifts.
Conclusion: Is this Web3’s political rite of passage, or a new beginning for the domestication of power?
Trump’s “Crypto Dinner” is not an ordinary private gathering, but a tentative collision of the legitimacy of crypto assets, the boundaries of political power, and the rules of global identity and capital flows.
When tokens become the entry ticket to power, and when global capital bypasses political system design through on-chain structures, does the crypto world still retain its original intention of "decentralization"?
Disclaimer: The above content is for information sharing only and does not constitute any investment advice!
