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The value of Donald Trump’s memo coins skyrocketed more than 50% on Wednesday after cryptocurrency issues said they would have dinner with the top 220 owners next month.
The group was invited to a private dinner at Trump National Golf Club in Washington on May 22, where they heard Trump talk about the “future of code,” organizers said.
The 25 people who own most of the Trump coins will also be invited to a pre-dinner reception and a White House VIP tour the next day.
According to Coinbase data, the move that came as traders were preparing for further release of $Trump Token into the market helped raise the $14.70 price to $14.70.
The coin has been debate since it began a few days before the president’s inauguration.
It surged to a peak of around $6 to $75, sparking accusations from cryptocurrency experts, and the president-elect is exploiting the enthusiasm of his supporters for economic interests. According to the Financial Times, Trump’s Crypto project was estimated to have earned at least $350 million from the token launch in January.
The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
According to the token website getTrumpmemes.com, approximately 80% of tokens are owned by CIC Digital, which is affiliated with CIC Digital and Trump Organization, and by CIC co-owned businesses called Fight Fight LLC.
The website created for dinner said guests will be determined by their average balance of Trump Coins from April 23 to May 12, and participants could check the rankings on the “Official $Trump Leaderboard.”
As of Wednesday afternoon, 183 people had their wallets connected to the leaderboard. The top holder, identified only as a “case,” holds a card token of about $400,000, worth around $5.2 million.
CoinMarketCap ranks the Trump token as the 37th largest cryptocurrency. The value of the coin in circulation was around $2.6 billion as of Wednesday afternoon.
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The surge in the value of Trump Coins and the rapid decline has made it one of the biggest “memecoin” in the crypto market, or one of the tokens representing internet memes, characters, or current events.
In February, the Securities and Exchange Commission, a major US market regulator, said they resemble collectibles and did not fall under federal securities laws.
Wednesday’s surge could have resulted in traders being “unlocked” and sold to the market as they prepared tokens held by original investors and insiders. However, organizers said the planned unlock will be suspended for 90 days.
