#Trump's

At Trump's $148 million meme coin dinner, 'the food sucked' and security was lax, attendee says

KEY POINTS

The price of Donald Trump's meme coin plunged 16% hours after the president hosted a black-tie gala at his Virginia golf club for its biggest buyers.

Among the 220 attendees were crypto influencers, industry executives such as Sandy Carter of Unstoppable Domains and former NBA star Lamar Odom.

Trump delivered a brief address rehashing old crypto talking points, then left on a helicopter before taking any questions or pictures with his meme coin contest winners, an attendee said.

On Thursday night as the meme coin contest dinner was underway, a bloc of Senate Democrats announced they'd be pushing for a new provision that would ban presidents and senior officials from profiting off crypto ventures while in office — a direct challenge to the Trump-linked stablecoin USD1 that launched in the spring.

In Washington, there's growing concern that political infighting over Trump's crypto ventures could derail the stablecoin bill altogether. That poses an even bigger risk.

According to The Wall Street Journal, major banks including JPMorgan, Bank of America and Citi are in early talks to issue a unified digital dollar to compete with Tether, the foreign-controlled stablecoin that now commands over 60% of global market share.

Those plans hinge on legal clarity.

If the GENIUS Act stalls, the U.S. could lose its window to regain ground in the global race for digital payments.

The White House has tried to draw a line between Trump the president and Trump the private businessman.

"The president is attending it in his personal time. It is not a White House dinner," press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters when pressed on attendee transparency