Guess who’s coming to dinner with $TRUMP

The dinner at the Trump National Golf Club in Washington, DC, for the top 220 holders of the $TRUMP token is May 22 (which is also Bitcoin Pizza Day). The event has brought a lot of excitement and a nearly equal amount of criticism. Sherwood News spoke to two VIP attendees, who have different takes on the event and the noise it has generated. 

The dinner is also occurring as the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act is advancing steadily through the Senate. The Trump family’s involvement in the space has introduced challenges for the bill, however, as World Liberty Financial, backed by President Trump, has announced plans to launch a stablecoin.

Congressman French Hill acknowledged last week that “the politics around the TRUMP meme coin and crypto investments” had “definitely made our work more complicated.”

Rebecca Liao, cofounder and CEO of Web3 protocol Saga, told Sherwood that Trump’s crypto ties have created a perception problem. 

“This controversy now overshadows the stablecoin legislation. Democrats are thinking that this is just an official means by which to conduct corruption. What began as a bipartisan bill with potential widespread support has now transformed into a proxy war between the Democrats and the Trump administration,” Liao said.

The dinner, meanwhile, has raised ethics concerns. Sen. Richard Blumenthal argued that it might violate government ethics requirements and facilitate “financial transactions with foreign nationals under federal prosecution.”

Phillip Shoemaker, executive director of Identity, a nonprofit organization providing decentralized identity verification, told Sherwood he has “serious concerns” about the dinner.

First, he said there’s the issue of paying for face time with Trump, adding that whether that’s truly what’s happening remains to be seen, “but at best, this looks like a blatant pay-to-play model.”

“I fear that if this narrative keeps building, we’ll see a wave of resistance from both Democrats and some Republicans. That could delay or derail stablecoin legislation entirely,” he added.

Nic Puckrin, founder of Coin Bureau, called the $TRUMP dinner a “real farce. Crypto simply should never have been politicized. Now, there are questions about market manipulation and, with this dinner, about foreign nationals and their involvement with US politics. The optics on that aren’t great,” he said. 

A Bloomberg analysis showed that all but six of the top 25 holders are foreign, a prevalence which “echoes concerns that congressional Democrats have expressed about the ethics of marketing the coin with a promise of presidential access.”

And in fact, Tron’s Justin Sun confirmed on May 20 he was the top $TRUMP holder. Sun, who was born in China but is also a citizen of Grenada, is no stranger to Trump’s crypto projects, having poured millions into WLFI, and is World Liberty Financial’s largest single investor as well. 

Some winners have a different take on the event and its controversy. Sherwood spoke with two of the top 25 holders, who will also receive “an ultra-exclusive private VIP reception with the President” and a “Special Tour.”

Ogle, the pseudonymous cofounder of blockchain ecosystem Glue and a cybersecurity adviser to WLFI, is one of them. Because of security concerns, he declined to share where he’s based or his real name.

Ogle told Sherwood that he’ll wear a bandana around his face as much as he can during the dinner to try to avoid being doxxed. As for the rest of his attire, he said, “It’s black tie or suit, thank goodness, so I’m going to wear a new gray suit since it’s spring."

Ogle, No. 22 on the leaderboard of $TRUMP holders, said he “could wax philosophical for hours” about the “hypocrisy of the critique.”

“Just to be clear, I’m not a MAGA person. This is not in defense of a person,” he said, though he added that the critique is problematic for a few reasons.

“For years, in the US, it’s been the case that there are rich individuals who have dinners and access to high-profile people. Whether it’s good or not is separate, but this is not novel — that’s just the way this works in Washington,” he said, echoing Identity’s Shoemaker. 

He contended that both Trump and crypto are divisive, which is why the dinner has garnered so much attention. Yet he also likened it to other lobbying dinners, like those of the National Association of Realtors, which haven’t received backlash, though they could also present perceptions of a conflict of interest for Trump.

“I don’t see the upset there,” he said. “We know lobbyists are very aggressive, but we don’t know who they are. In this case, it’s right in your eyeballs, and you have to react to this. It’s discomfort that people are having as they have to deal with it.”

When asked why he entered the competition, Ogle said he just wanted to see who would attend.

“Curiosity is literally it. I have no expectations; I’m just curious to see how it’ll go. I’m hoping it’ll be fun — and hoping they’ll serve McDonald’s,” he said.

Ogle added he has “no clue” how much he spent, nor if he lost or won money. 

“I have traded it actively from the day it launched. Spent millions, made millions, but net-net I have zero idea,” he said. “I could have lost money, could have gained. I genuinely don’t know. I try not to think in USD terms. So I don’t keep portfolio tracking and that sort of thing.”

He added that he’s “not sure” whether the event will live up to the hype, but he wants to see if something will come out of it.

No. 2 on the leaderboard is MemeCore. The project’s cofounder, the pseudonymous Ice, will attend the dinner. 

MemeCore’s participation in the contest was “rooted in our mission to represent and reignite global meme culture,” MemeCore Chief Business Development Officer Cherry Hsu told Sherwood News. “Especially at a time when many are calling it ‘dead.’”

Hsu continued, “Donald Trump is more than a political figure; he is arguably one of the iconic living memes. His rise represents the power of memes to influence culture, perception, and movements — principles that align with MemeCore’s vision of a decentralized, community-driven future. For us, this dinner was never about political endorsement.” 

Hsu added that the purchase was always meant as a symbolic rather than financial move. MemeCore has been holding the token since it launched, and she said it was not about financial gains — it was about pushing the meme coin narrative forward.

When asked about the controversy surrounding the dinner, Hsu said MemeCore is not “here to comment on politics,” but as the only meme-focused project involved in this event, it just wanted to represent “the power of memes.”

“Memes have always been messy, emotional, and sometimes controversial — that’s exactly why they’re powerful. Our goal was never tied to any political agenda. We simply saw this dinner as a cultural moment, and we wanted to be part of it to remind people: memes aren’t dead — they’re shaping the future,” she said.

MemeCore is based in Singapore, but Hsu declined to say where Ice is based out of security concerns.