The value of President Donald Trump's native TRUMP meme coin has soared by over 65% in the last 24 hours

The tokens, which were launched earlier this year, were a source of controversy for the Trump camp.

The value of President Donald Trump’s native TRUMP meme coin has soared by over 65% in the last 24 hours after he announced a major perk for investors. The tokens, which were launched earlier this year, were a source of plenty of controversy.

First, there’s the fact that meme coins themselves tend to be quite controversial. Based on lore and pop culture, meme coins have been criticized by even the biggest crypto lovers for not ‘doing’ anything and having no practical use cases. They are also slammed for being scams, despite tokens like DOGE and PEPE continuing to succeed.

In Trump’s case, it was even worse because the current US president is a polarizing figure, and the tokens were released around the time of his inauguration. The way many saw it, this was an attempt on his part to exploit his audience and make a quick buck. This was made even worse after his wife released a similar token around the same time, and both saw a massive decline in value shortly after a while. Many critics have since declared TRUMP to be dead, but it is seemingly getting new life.

This move comes after the former president announced that he’s inviting the top 220 investors in the token to an exclusive dinner at Trump National Golf Club in Washington, D.C., on May 22, 2025.

This is an interesting time to be making such a declaration, as buying interesting cryptocurrency has been especially high in the last few years. The success of tokens like Bitcoin and Ether has seen investors hungry to buy into the asset class. Luckily, there are many avenues to do this, including with bank transfers and credit cards.

Anyone looking to attend this exclusive gala with Trump will have to put up quite a bit of effort. The promotional material, in which President Trump is referred to as the crypto president, explains that the winners have to hold the highest average TRUMP balance between April 23 and May 12, 2025.

From the day of the announcement to the day of the winners being chosen, the public leaderboard will show the investors with the highest balances, so they will know where they stand at any given time.

And that’s not all. While cryptocurrency is known to offer a lot of anonymity to users, those looking to have a private dinner with the President of the United States will have to divulge their identity. Registering for the competition will require users to not only connect their crypto wallets but also reveal their full legal name, email, and phone number. They will also be subject to a background check to confirm that they are not from any countries that are under KYC sanctions.

If they do win, they’re still certain rules they must abide by. For starters, they can’t bring any plus ones, and the invitation is not transferable. The top 25 of these 220 investors will have another private reception as well as a private tour of the White House.

During the dinner, President Trump is to give a speech to their attendees about the future of cryptocurrency, and it’s been noted that he will not be soliciting any donations during that time. It was also made clear that these tokens do not constitute a security, which is often a hot-button issue regarding the asset class.

This competition is very significant for both Trump and his supporters, as well as the wider cryptocurrency sector. First, it shows that Trump is, at least to some extent, still committed to his TRUMP token. Many investors had completely written it off and believed it was an abandoned project. Now, it is seemingly being revived.

It’s also interesting that Trump is moving forward with a competition, as a recent bill seeks to ban public office holders from engaging in such endeavors. According to supporters of the bill, it is inappropriate for public office holders to engage in activities such as selling meme coins or offering paid subscriptions. They view it as an abuse of power and a conflict of interest.

Trump’s treatment of his meme coin could go on to set the stage for not just future US presidents but public office holders as a whole. The declaration that cryptocurrency, in this context, is not deemed a security also sheds light on the Trump administration’s stance on digital assets. Since Trump was re-elected, there’s been a noticeable pro-crypto sentiment among regulators, with lawsuits against crypto companies being dropped and overall, a sentiment of support. Only time will tell how consistent the reception towards this competition will be and how it will impact the TRUMP coin long-term.