Trump hosts crypto contest winners at Mar-a-Lago as his coin languishes
PALM BEACH, Florida – U.S. President Donald Trump hosted the winners of the second annual meme coin contest at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida, on Saturday, giving top buyers of the $TRUMP cryptocurrency an audience with him even as the token’s value has fallen more than 95% from last year’s peak.
The premiere comes at a time when scrutiny of the Trump family’s broader crypto ventures is intensifying and Democratic leaders are calling for an investigation.
The top 297 $TRUMP token holders who signed up for the contest attended and delivered the keynote speech at what Trump billed as the world’s “most exclusive” crypto and business conference. The top 29 also attended “an exclusive VIP reception and champagne toast” with the president.
The day-long event is the latest example of Trump blending his presidential status with his family’s growing portfolio of speculative crypto ventures. This rapprochement has little modern precedent, government ethics experts say, especially since Trump’s personal crypto fortune has soared as he reshapes U.S. crypto policy.
Trump’s attendance at the premiere was not public. But he later told reporters he felt an “obligation” to support the crypto industry.
“As a president, I need to be able to make sure that all of our industries are doing well,” Trump said Saturday afternoon before boarding Air Force One to return to Washington, D.C. “Crypto is a huge industry, it has actually become somewhat mainstream.”
While many retail buyers who piled into the token at launch saw most of their paper gains disappear, the Trump family and affiliates continued to profit from the broader crypto ecosystem.
A Reuters investigation found that the family generated more than $1 billion from crypto asset sales; This includes at least $336 million tied to meme-coin sales in the first half of 2025 alone, with potential billions more in unrealized gains.
“President Trump’s assets are in a trust managed by his children,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told Reuters, adding that the president was acting solely in the best interests of the American people. “There is no conflict of interest.”
Last year’s meme-coin contest, held at a golf club near Washington, D.C., raised similar concerns for ethicists; as was the case at Mar-a-Lago in February, hosted by the president’s sons Eric and Don Jr., at a conference for World Liberty Financial, the Trump family’s most lucrative crypto venture, attended by notable figures from Washington D.C. and Wall Street.
The contest rankings were based not only on the amount of $TRUMP on hand, but also on purchases of Trump-branded products, including sneakers, watches and perfumes, between March 12 and April 14. Winners are set to receive Trump-branded merchandise, including a commemorative poster, two trading cards, a “Fight Fight Fight Red Beauty” watch and a perfume.
The $TRUMP token is trading near all-time lows, falling sharply from a high of $75 shortly after its launch in January 2025.
Late Friday, $TRUMP was trading at roughly $3. It fell to $2.53 amid heavy trading Saturday morning as Trump spoke and remained below $2.60 after leaving Florida.
According to crypto analytics firm Nansen, the 297 shortlisted winners hold roughly $29 million worth of TRUMP; That’s well below the $148 million Reuters has booked for the inaugural contest in May 2025.
“The difference from last year’s launch is very noticeable,” according to a Nansen analysis prepared for Reuters. Nansen said that upon launch, buyers accumulated and held the token, which helped support a sustainable rise. “The 2026 contest created a moment of excitement, but it didn’t create the same sentiment as what we saw in 2025. The demand just doesn’t hold up.”
Meme coins (a type of crypto with no utility or real value) are based on online trends and viral cultural phenomena. Many exhibit parabolic price curves; An early rise is usually followed by a decline in value.
Among the top $TRUMP wallets, according to blockchain data, is one linked to crypto billionaire Justin Sun, who finished first in the competition for the second year in a row.
Sun, one of World Liberty’s largest publicly known investors, filed a lawsuit against the company on Tuesday, alleging it froze its assets. Investors were disappointed, saying the startup was not transparent, tightly controlled and did not respond to complaints.
World Liberty co-founder and CEO Zach Witkoff, son of Trump administration special envoy Steve Witkoff, called the lawsuit “unfair” in a social media post and accused Sun of “misconduct that requires World Liberty to take action to protect itself and its users.”
The Sun did not respond to a request for comment.
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