The $TRUMP memecoin, has seen a dramatic surge in value, climbing over 50% in a single day to trade around $14.32, though still below its all-time high of $75.35. This rally was sparked by an announcement that the top 220 token holders would be invited to an exclusive gala dinner with the president on May 22 at his Trump National Golf Club in Washington, D.C., boosting the coin’s market cap to approximately $2.7 billion. The promise of access to Trump has driven frenetic trading, with Chainalysis reporting nearly $900,000 in trading fees collected by Trump-affiliated entities over two days, highlighting the financial windfall for the president’s inner circle amidst a pro-crypto stance that includes eased regulations and a strategic Bitcoin reserve.
However, the surge has raised ethical concerns and suspicions of a potential pump-and-dump scheme. Senators Adam Schiff and Elizabeth Warren have called for an ethics probe, arguing that offering exclusive access to the presidency in exchange for significant $TRUMP investments resembles “pay-to-play” corruption. Critics, including crypto researcher Molly White, note the opacity of the leaderboard, which only displays pseudonymous screen names, making it difficult to identify top holders. With 80% of the coin’s supply controlled by Trump linked firms like CIC Digital LLC and Fight Fight Fight LLC, and a recent delay in insider token unlocks by 90 days, some investors question the rally’s sustainability, especially as 40 million new tokens are set to unlock soon, potentially flooding the market.
