Original Block Unicorn Block Unicorn May 23, 2025 15:00 Chongqing. Article by: Thejaswini M A, Nameet Potnis, Prathik Desai
Article compiled by: Block Unicorn
Prologue
On May 22, the top 220 holders of $TRUMP tokens will dine with the president at Trump's Virginia golf club.
But there’s one question? Blockchain analysis shows that most attendees may not be American.
This dinner, which represents the intersection of cryptocurrency, politics, and foreign influence, was achieved through wallets linked to exchanges like Binance that do not serve US customers, with a total expenditure of 148 million USD.
Who exactly received the invitation to dine with the president?
Are they speculators, strategic influence buyers, or entirely different roles?
What happens when a world leader invites anonymous internet strangers to dinner based solely on the number of tokens they purchased?
Guest List
If you spent big on $TRUMP tokens before May 12, congratulations, you may be dining with the president this Wednesday.
The website states: 'From April 23 to May 12, hold as many $TRUMP as possible. Your average holding during this period will determine your ranking. The more $TRUMP you hold and the longer you hold it, the higher your ranking will be.'
So who actually made the cut?
Let's take a look at the seating chart.
Table 1: The Whales
Seated at the head of this table is a recognized $TRUMP king: Sun Yuchen, who officially announced himself as the top holder on Monday. This Tron founder holds over 1.4 million TRUMP tokens, worth about 20 million USD.
Sun Yuchen not only holds tokens—after the dinner announcement, he doubled down, adding another 359,000 TRUMP tokens (about 4.72 million USD) during the qualification review.
This Tron founder is no stranger to controversy—he is currently negotiating with the SEC over fraud allegations. The timing coincidentally aligns, as the SEC, led by an official appointed by Trump, requested a halt to the lawsuit against Sun Yuchen in February.
Also at his table is MemeCore, based in Singapore, which invested 18 million USD. They are actively vying for dinner tickets, almost live-streaming their token buying spree.
Table 2: The International Brigade
According to Bloomberg, 19 out of the top 25 wallets belong to individuals outside the U.S.
Kane Warwick, founder of Infinex (Australia), who told reporters he would 'wear a suit' to the dinner and does not expect much face time with the president.
Vincent Liu from Taiwan's Kronos Research.
An anonymous attendee using the alias 'Ogle', holding over 250,000 tokens, declined to reveal his citizenship, saying: 'This is the crypto world, bro. If I wanted my information exposed, I wouldn't be using an alias.'
Multiple anonymous wallets associated with Asian exchanges.
Table 3: 'Reluctant Selection' Group
The last eligible holder for the dinner has 4,196 tokens, worth about 60,000 USD at the cutoff. If they sold immediately after qualification confirmation (considering a 10% price drop), the actual cost to 'attend' the dinner would be around 6,000 USD, which is a bargain compared to the 1 million USD 'candlelight dinner' tickets sold by Trump's super PAC in March.
Notably: Houston logistics company Freight Technologies spent 2 million USD trying to influence US-Mexico trade policy by buying tokens but ended up ranking 250th, missing the entry by 30 spots. That's tough...
Price Tag
The numbers behind this dinner are staggering.
For guests:
148 million USD: Total spending of all 220 eligible wallet holders.
4.8 million USD: Average amount held by VIP guests (top 25).
20 million USD: Confirmed amount held by Sun Yuchen (1.5 million TRUMP tokens).
60,000 USD: The holding amount of the last eligible guest (the 220th) at the cutoff.
Comparison:
1 million USD: The ticket cost for Trump's 'candlelight dinner,' sold by the super PAC in March.
5 million USD: The cost of a one-on-one meeting with the president through traditional channels.
15 billion USD: Peak market cap of $TRUMP tokens after launch on January 19.
2.9 billion USD: Current market cap.
320 million USD: Transaction fees collected by Trump-affiliated entities.
80%: The proportion of tokens controlled by the Trump Group and its affiliates (specifically, CIC Digital and Fight Fight Fight LLC)
The wealth transfer here is staggering. Behind every winner celebrating a dinner invitation are thousands of losers who funded the party by not receiving an invitation.
Complexities
Just having dinner with the president? No. This is a diplomatic, legal, and moral minefield:
Identity Crisis
Since crypto wallets are anonymous, no one knows exactly who bought these tokens. Some wallets can be traced back to known individuals, but others are completely anonymous.
The Secret Service is surely swamped reviewing these guests. 'Mr. President, we only have one wallet address starting with 0x4f9...'
VIP Experience
The dinner itself is just part of the experience. The top 25 VIPs will also receive exclusive receptions with Trump before the dinner, and enjoy a 'special VIP tour' (though what exactly it entails is still unclear. This is usually reserved for donors to super PACs contributing 5 million USD.)
Foreign Influence
Senator Richard Blumenthal warned that Trump's family's cryptocurrency business could become 'a secret backdoor for foreign and corporate interests seeking access to the president.'
It's hard to argue against this when most dinner guests are foreign nationals who paid hundreds of thousands (even millions) of dollars for entry.
Legislative Impact
Despite initial concerns, the dinner controversy ultimately did not hinder cryptocurrency legislation. The Senate has actually passed a bipartisan vote to advance the GENIUS Act stablecoin regulatory bill, with Democrats and Republicans working together to push the bill's progress.
Despite some Democrats initially expressing reservations, the progress of the bill indicates that cryptocurrency regulation is becoming a genuine bipartisan priority beyond the meme coin dinner controversy.
An investigation is brewing
Democratic lawmakers have requested all suspicious activity reports (SARs) related to World Liberty Financial and $TRUMP tokens since 2023.
The request specifically sought all SARs related to WinRed, America PAC, Elon Musk, Trump, WLF, TRUMP, MELANIA, and Sun Yuchen since 2023. This investigative train has just begun to roll.
Follow-Up
What happens after the plates are cleared? Here are the things to watch for:
Market Trends: A typical 'sell the news' sell-off is expected after the dinner ends. Those who bought tokens purely for information have no reason to continue holding after the dinner is over.
Media Coverage: How much access will the media have? Will attendees share details, or will they sign NDAs to remain silent? Transparency will largely reveal the true purpose of this event.
Political Consequences: Democrats have already weaponized this dinner against the administration. Hearings, investigations, and possibly legislation targeting similar 'access for cryptocurrency' schemes are expected.
Imitation Event: If Trump's actions succeed, other politicians may follow suit. Imagine cabinet members hosting lunches for token holders, or senators hosting NFT meetups.
Whether you view this dinner as innovation or corruption largely depends on your political stance. But one thing is certain: the line between cryptocurrency and political influence has never been so blurred.
Keep in mind—cryptocurrency, like politics, has no free lunch. Especially when this lunch costs millions of dollars in meme tokens.
