“Food to Smoke” at Trump’s $148 million meme coin dinner

The price of President Donald Trump’s meme coin plunged 16% on Friday morning. Just hours after he held the Black Tie Gala at his Virginia Golf Club for the biggest buyers, it’s an elite crowd who spent $148 million on tokens for his chance to be there.

It was called “the most exclusive invitation in the world.”

Among the 220 attendees were crypto influencers, industry executives like Sandy Carter in the Unstoppable Domain, and former NBA star Lamar Odom.

The top 25 wallets were promised private reception and guided tours. Others, like 25-year-old Nicholas Pinto, his father took him to the event with his Lamborghini – was overwhelmed and still hungry.

“Food was sucked in,” Pinto said. “I was not given any drinks other than water or Trump’s wine. I didn’t drink, so I drank some water. My glass was filled only once.”

Trump only made a brief appearance. “He didn’t talk to any of the 220 guests, maybe in the top 25,” Pinto said.

All of them, the president was there for 23 minutes, Pinto said. Trump gave a brief speech rehashing the topic of old code, then he left on the helicopter to ask questions and photographs along with the winner of the Meme Coin Contest.

According to Pinto, the phone was not locked in the RFID pouch and the security was loose.

“When Trump left, they didn’t worry about anything else,” Pinto added.

The gorgeousness was completely on display.

“Richard Mill’s watches were not even rare,” Pinto said. “I saw at least 16 people wearing them. I won’t see them unless I’m in a fine dining restaurant in Miami or Dubai.”

But the atmosphere was muted more than expected, he said: “Many people didn’t have coins anymore. They would check their phones at dinner to see if prices had moved.”

CNBC contacted Trump’s representatives for comments about dinner and attendance.

For lawmakers and regulators, dinner caused an alarm bell.

#1 Token Holder is China-born Crypto Mogul Justin Sun, who is currently facing a recently suspended Securities and Exchange Commission fraud charge, citing “public interest.”

Sun holds over $22 million in the $Trump Token and an additional $75 million in the native tokens of World Liberty Financial.

“As President Trump’s top holder and a proud supporter of President Trump, I was honored to be attending the Trump Gala Dinner,” Sun posted Friday. “Thank you to @Potus for unwavering support in our industry!”

About 100 protesters gathered outside Trump National Golf Club in Potomac Falls, Virginia, according to NBC News. Senator Jeff Markley joins them, Chuck Schumer, DN.Y, the leader of the Senate minority.

The signs say “crypto corruption” and “Trump is a traitor.”

“The Trump family’s activities in Memocoin space make my work more complicated in Congress,” R-Ark’s French Hill told CNBC on Friday.

Hill, who has been in major negotiations on a bipartisan, ridiculous bill known as a genius act, has called the gala “a distraction from the good work we have to do.”

The Genius Act, a bill regulating Stablecoins, is currently at risk.

R-Mo. Senator Josh Hawley recently added a controversial rider to the bill that restricts credit card deferral fees.

On Thursday night, a meme coin contest dinner is underway, Senate Democrats’ bloc announced it would promote a new provision that would prohibit the president and senior officials from making profits in their offices.

In Washington, there is growing concern that political infighting over Trump’s crypto venture could completely derail the Stubcoin bill. That poses even greater risk.

According to the Wall Street Journal, jpmorgan, Bank of America, Cityand other major banks are in early consultation to issue unified digital dollars to compete with Tether, a foreign-controlled stubcoin that currently commands more than 60% of global market share.

These plans depend on legal clarity.

If the act of genius stalls, the US can lose its windows and regain its position in the global competition for digital payments.

The White House tried to attract a line between President Trump and private businessman Trump.

“The president is present at it in his personal time. It’s not a White House dinner,” spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told reporters as he forced the transparency of attendees.

The administrator refused to publish the guest list. But the patchwork of blockchain data and guest photos tells part of the story.

A Bloomberg news analysis found that all but six of the top 25 wallets use foreign exchanges, ostensibly off limits to US users. Over half of the top 220 wallets were linked to similar offshore platforms.

One Nasdaq registered penny stock, Cargo technologydisclosed in an SEC filing that it spent $2 million on Trump’s tokens to promote US Mexican trade policy. It didn’t cut dinner – finished in 250th place.

Since its debut in January, The $Trump Coin has generated more than $324 million in trading fees. According to the project’s website, approximately 80% of the $Trump Token supply is managed by Trump’s organization and affiliates.

Trump’s parallel token, WLFI, sold $550 million in two token sales.

Still, White House AI & Crypto Czar David Sacks remained bullish on the “important bipartisan support” of the Stablecoin Act.

“We already have over $200 billion in stub coins, which is unregulated,” Sachs told CNBC’s “Closing Bell Overtime” on Wednesday. “If we provide legal clarity and legal framework for this, we think we can create a demand for trillions of dollars for our Treasury in virtually overnight, very quickly.”

“We have every expectation to make it pass,” he said, not answering questions from Democrats about concerns, but not answering the question that there are no sufficient protections to help the president and his family benefit from the law.

Sacks sold Crypto-related holdings for $200 million before taking on a White House job, but according to disclosure declarations, Trump and his family are leaning towards building a crypto empire.

Trump is a financial aid for Liberty Financial around the world and is behind UDS1 stubcoin, supported by the Treasury Department and dollar deposits.

Abu Dhabi’s MGX investment fund recently pledged $2 billion in Binance’s largest digital asset exchange, the world’s largest $2 billion. It is the company’s biggest investment in cryptographic history.