President Donald Trump will host a dinner on Thursday not to raise cash but to thank the attendees for giving his family some of their money.
The official backers of Trump's meme coin, $TRUMP, are hosting a gala at the president's DC-area private golf club. The top 220 holders of the digital token were invited to join the president.
On average, they spent over $1 million on the coin to secure a seat, per NBC News.
The White House has defended Trump's appearance amid criticism from congressional Democrats and government ethics organizations.
"The President is working to secure GOOD deals for the American people, not for himself," White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement. "President Trump only acts in the best interests of the American public — which is why they overwhelmingly re-elected him to this office, despite years of lies and false accusations against him and his businesses from the fake news media."
This is what we know about Trump's meme coin dinner.
Attendees spent an average of $1 million a seat.
Dinner with Trump isn't cheap. The lucky winners spent $394 million on the meme coin, per research conducted by blockchain analytics company Nansen, NBC News reported.
The actual cost varies significantly from those at the very top to attendees who just barely made the cut. The top seven holders spent more than $10 million each, while those spending less than $100,000 filled the final 24 slots. The average winner spent $1,788,994.42, per NBC News.
Trump's family has made tens of millions already
Trump's family and other coin backers have brought in over $320 million in trading fees so far, according to a Reuters report that cited research by Chainalysis, a blockchain analytics firm. Of those fees, at least $1.35 million were collected after the meme coin's official website announced the Trump dinner.
The Trump Organization, Trump's private company, and related entities hold 80% of the meme coin's supply. Officially, the meme coin project says Trump is appearing as a guest at the dinner.