President Trump hosted an exclusive dinner tonight at the Trump National Golf Club near Washington, D.C. and received a unique guest list: 220 largest investors in his $trump Meme Coin, whose current or former cryptocurrency holds, earning them seats at the table.

This is an incident where a dark cryptocurrency world collides with the president's moral issues.

There are three key things about the president’s meme coins, Thursday’s dinner and what that might mean.

What is Trump?

A few days before the inauguration, the president launched Trump $, which soared to a market capitalization of $27 billion in hours - evaluating the president's personal stake to more than $20 billion. Its price reached its peak of more than $74 before it fell. It has recovered some losses since hitting its lows in April, with most of the losses recovering last month as $Trump’s dinner was hyped.

The publication said in a Bitcoin World Editorial on Meme Coin Dinner that the timing of the latest spikes suggests that “the pathways to gaining high-profile politicians and events are powerful catalysts.”

Meme coins are cryptocurrencies inspired by internet memes or virus trends, or in this case the president of the United States. They are often created for entertainment or speculative purposes and are driven primarily by hype. As speculation, they tend to enrich early investors who are able to throw away coins before their value collapses.

Like Bitcoin, meme coins, sometimes called meme tokens, use blockchain technology, but often lack clear use cases and basic value.

"Meme coins are not investments. I wouldn't even call them speculative. They're more risky than the dog track," said Michael Lee, founder of wealth planning and investment management company Michael Lee Strategy.

Lee described himself as "a Trump supporter full of red" and called the original cryptocurrency Bitcoin "digital gold." But as an investor, he said he would not meet Trump.

"It's not even a casino-level risk," he said. "In a casino, there are at least odds."

Official website GetTrumpMemes.com said that CIC Digital LLC, a subsidiary of the Trump Organization, jointly owns 80% of the total supply of $1 billion Trump tokens.

Who is attending $Trump dinner?

Of the 220 investors planned to participate, only a few investors were identified only through their "crypto wallet address" online handle.

“There are a lot of speculations about who might hold and who might not hold.” politics Reporter Declan Harty recently told NPR. “But for those who talk about attending the dinner program, they are primarily cryptocurrency believers and hope to really attract the president’s audience.”

Like Justin Sun, a Chinese-born cryptocurrency company, the founder of Tron, a blockchain-based operating platform. Sun announced on X that he is the top holder of Trump $ and therefore will be at the top of the dinner and private White House tour.

"It's an honor to support @potus and thank @gettrumpmemes for his invitation to President Trump's grand dinner, his top fan!" he wrote.

According to the SEC, in 2023, Sun was accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission of not registering to sell his cryptocurrency, artificially exaggerating his transaction volume and covering up publicity for their payments to celebrity spokespersons. According to Reuters, the SEC case is still under trial as of February.

But the Sun is perhaps the publicly known for another purchase he made at a New York auction last year. The tech tycoon bought a $6.2 million banana tape, a concept work by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan. The sun then ate the banana and brags about it on social media.

After Sun, Memecore is Singapore's crypto network, ranking second. Like Sun, Memecore is no secret to pursuing No. 1, and released earlier this month on X, “We’re not just targeting #1 in $Trump Tresceboard – we’re conquering the entire Meme Space here.”

According to data from the Bitcoin world, London-based cryptocurrency company Wintermute is reportedly #3. NPR contacted the company to confirm its holdings, but received no immediate response.

What is the meaning of morality?

Norm Eisen is a former ambassador, he is an ethical consultant Former President Barack Obama is now the executive chairman of Operation Democracy Defenders.

Eisen, citing the constitutional provisions of the Emer’s clause, which prohibits federal officials from accepting gifts, payments or other benefits from foreign governments, described the supper as “the most profound moral and constitutional violation in our presidential history.”

"The existence of this digital currency is a naked attempt to exploit (Trump's) previous and current presidents," Eisen said.

He predicted: “Foreigners and foreign governments will use this situation to invest money – expecting a return.”

Establishing such a problem could have significant national security implications that could lead to foreign policy decisions that bias other countries towards the United States, prohibit foreign entities from donating to political movements or influence candidate decisions - all in order to avoid foreign interference in U.S. affairs.

"The president is working to determine a good deal for the American people, not for himself, for himself," White House Deputy Secretary Anna Kelly said in an emailed statement to NPR.

"President Trump is only in the best interest of the American public, which is why despite years of lies and false accusations against him and his business from fake news media, they overwhelmed him to elect this office," she said.

"The meme coins have nothing to do with the White House," a White House official said on condition of anonymity.

Investment manager Lee said he doesn't think meme tokens or dinners bring about particularly tricky moral dilemmas. "I don't know how to get close to Trump by buying his meme coins," he said. "If you're a capable person, you can get close to any politician, right?"

But even some Republican lawmakers expressed concern. Wyoming Sen. Cynthia Lummis, a Trump supporter, said the situation “let me pause”, while Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski said in a conversation with NBC: “I don’t think I’m suitable to accuse people of going to Capitol and doing a tour.”

Eisen believes that this incident happened during Obama's presidency.

“Instead, if one of us suggests doing this, he will kick us out of the Oval Office,” he said.

But he does believe that Trump's challenge to the Constitution's Ai-style clause will be challenged in the courts. Otherwise, “if it is not inspected, it will hang a 'for-sale sign on the White House.”