On Wednesday, the team responsible for the official Donald Trump memecoin generated a surge in trading activity by announcing that the top investors holding the most of the cryptocurrency in the upcoming weeks would receive invitations to a gala dinner with the US President.
According to the announcement on the TRUMP coin website, the exclusive dinner, scheduled for May 22, offers an opportunity for attendees to hear President Trump discuss the future of cryptocurrency firsthand. Only the top 220 holders of the $TRUMP meme coin will receive invitations to this event.
Following this announcement, traders swiftly engaged in purchasing TRUMP coins. While some aimed to secure a spot at the dinner, others sought to profit from the market activity. An analysis by blockchain analytics firm Nansen revealed that the coin’s price increased by nearly 60 percent within an hour.
For the two entities owning 80 percent of the coin’s supply—CIC Digital LLC and Fight Fight Fight LLC, subsidiaries of a conglomerate owned by Trump—the market price itself was not a primary concern. These firms benefit mainly from the frequency of trades.
During the coin’s launch in January, the two organizations allocated 10 percent of the total TRUMP coin supply to a liquidity pool facilitating free trading of the asset. In exchange for providing liquidity and offering to buy and sell the coin as trades occur—known as market making—these Trump-affiliated entities earn transaction fees, which can range from 0.1 to 10 percent per trade, depending on current demand levels, similar to surge pricing models in ride-hailing services.
Nathan van der Heyden, head of business development at crypto company Aragon, explained that entities controlling the market making and fee generation prioritize trading volume and price movement over the actual price.
Reports indicate that Trump-affiliated entities have previously amassed tens of millions of dollars in trading fees tied to the TRUMP coin. Following the dinner announcement, $1.6 million in fees were collected within 24 hours by contributors to the TRUMP liquidity pool on Meteora, the exchange where the token initially launched. CIC Digital and Fight Fight Fight, as primary contributors to the pool, likely accrued most of this amount.
Although theoretically, the Trump-affiliated organizations could benefit from any increase in TRUMP’s price due to their significant holdings, they are practically unable to sell their share. A mechanism restricting access to their holdings for three years and concerns about the potential backlash from price drops prevent large sales.
Van der Heyden noted that selling one’s own coin can result in negative public perception, whereas profiting from market making provides a more discreet way of maintaining a positive reputation.
