{"id":629074,"date":"2026-04-26T03:47:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T03:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/629074\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T03:47:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T03:47:09","slug":"trump-hosts-crypto-contest-winners-at-mar-a-lago-as-his-coin-languishes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/629074\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump hosts crypto contest winners at Mar-a-Lago as his coin languishes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

U.S. President Donald Trump prepares to board Air Force One on Saturday in Palm Beach, Fla., where he hosted a cryptocurrency conference at his Mar-a-Lago estate.Roberto Schmidt\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

U.S. President Donald Trump hosted winners of his second annual meme coin contest at his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Fla., on Saturday, offering top buyers of his $TRUMP cryptocurrency an audience with him even as the token\u2019s value has plunged more than 95% from its peak last year.<\/p>\n

The gala took place as scrutiny of the Trump family\u2019s broader crypto ventures has intensified, with Democratic leaders calling for investigations.<\/p>\n

The 297 largest $TRUMP token holders who registered for the contest attended a gathering that Trump has billed as the \u201cmost exclusive\u201d crypto and business conference in the world, where he gave the keynote address. The top 29 also attended a \u201cspecial VIP reception and champagne toast\u201d with Trump.<\/p>\n

The daylong event is the latest example of Trump blending presidential stature with his family\u2019s growing portfolio of speculative crypto ventures \u2013 a convergence government ethics experts say has little modern precedent, particularly since Trump\u2019s personal crypto wealth has ballooned as he reshapes U.S. crypto policy.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s appearance at the gala was not open to the public. But he later told reporters that he felt an \u201cobligation\u201d to support the crypto industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a president, I have to be able to make sure that all of our industries do well,\u201d Trump said before he boarded Air Force One on Saturday afternoon for his return to Washington, D.C. \u201cCrypto is a big industry, it\u2019s actually become somewhat mainstream.\u201d<\/p>\n

While many retail buyers who piled into the token around its launch have seen most of their paper gains disappear, the Trump family and affiliated entities have continued to profit from the broader crypto ecosystem. A Reuters examination found that the family has taken in more than US$1 billion from crypto asset sales, including at least US$336 million tied to meme-coin sales in the first half of 2025 alone, with potentially billions more in unrealized gains.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Trump\u2019s assets are in a trust managed by his children,\u201d White House spokesperson Anna Kelly told Reuters. \u201cThere are no conflicts of interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s meme-coin contest, at his golf club near Washington, D.C., raised similar concerns for ethics experts, as did a February conference at Mar-a-Lago hosted by the president\u2019s sons, Eric and Don Jr., for World Liberty Financial, the Trump family\u2019s most lucrative crypto venture, which drew top figures from Washington, D.C., and Wall Street.<\/p>\n

Contest rankings were based not only on holdings of $TRUMP but also on purchases of Trump-branded merchandise \u2013 including sneakers, watches and fragrances \u2013 between March 12 and April 14. Winners are set to receive Trump-branded items including a commemorative poster, two trading cards, a \u201cFight Fight Fight Red Beauty\u201d watch and a fragrance.<\/p>\n

The $TRUMP token is hovering near its all-time lows and is down steeply from the US$75 high hit shortly after it was introduced in January, 2025.<\/p>\n

Late on Friday, $TRUMP was trading at roughly US$3. As Trump spoke it fell to US$2.53 amid a flurry of trading on Saturday morning and remained below US$2.60 after he left Florida.<\/p>\n

The 297 qualifying winners hold roughly US$29 million worth of $TRUMP, according to crypto analytics firm Nansen, far below the US$148 million Reuters reported they held for the inaugural May, 2025, contest.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe contrast with last year\u2019s launch is stark,\u201d according to a Nansen analysis prepared for Reuters. When it was launched, buyers accumulated and held the token, helping fuel a sustained rally, Nansen said. \u201cThe 2026 contest generated a moment of activity, but not the same conviction we saw in 2025. Demand just isn\u2019t sticking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meme coins \u2013 a type of crypto with no utility or intrinsic value \u2013 are based on online trends and viral cultural phenomena. Most of them exhibit parabolic price curves, with a rise in the early stage often followed by a plunge in value.<\/p>\n

Among the top $TRUMP wallets, according to blockchain data, is one linked to crypto billionaire Justin Sun, who finished first in the contest for the second consecutive year.<\/p>\n

Sun, one of the largest publicly known investors in World Liberty, sued the company on Tuesday, alleging that it froze his holdings. Investors have grown frustrated with the venture, saying it is opaque, tightly controlled and unresponsive to complaints.<\/p>\n

In a social media post, World Liberty co-founder and CEO Zach Witkoff, the son of Trump administration special envoy Steve Witkoff, called the lawsuit \u201cmeritless,\u201d and accused Sun of \u201cmisconduct that required World Liberty to take action to protect itself and its users.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sun did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: U.S. President Donald Trump prepares to board Air Force One on Saturday in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":629075,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,45,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":{"0":"post-629074","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-business","15":"tag-ca","16":"tag-canada","17":"tag-canada-news","18":"tag-canada-sports","19":"tag-canada-sports-news","20":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","21":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","22":"tag-canadian-news","23":"tag-economy","24":"tag-education","25":"tag-environment","26":"tag-federal-government","27":"tag-foreign-news","28":"tag-globe-and-mail","29":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","30":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","31":"tag-government","32":"tag-life-news","33":"tag-lifestyle","34":"tag-local-news","35":"tag-manitoba","36":"tag-national-news","37":"tag-new-brunswick","38":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","39":"tag-northwest-territories","40":"tag-nova-scotia","41":"tag-nunavut","42":"tag-ontario","43":"tag-pei","44":"tag-photos","45":"tag-political-news","46":"tag-political-opinion","47":"tag-politics","48":"tag-politics-news","49":"tag-quebec","50":"tag-sports-news","51":"tag-technology","52":"tag-travel","53":"tag-trudeau","54":"tag-us-news","55":"tag-world-news","56":"tag-yukon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=629074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/629075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=629074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=629074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=629074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}