After weeks of speculation among crypto enthusiasts and news outlets, Tron founder Justin Sun has claimed he owns the wallet that purchased the largest amount of Donald Trumpโs memecoin, allowing him to qualify for a dinner and reception with the US president.
In a May 19 X post, Sun said he had received an invitation to attend Trumpโs dinner at his golf club outside Washington, DC, as part of a reward for the top 220 memecoin holders. The Tron founder claimed he controlled the top wallet on the TRUMP token leaderboard under the username โSun,โ which held roughly $19 million worth of the memecoin at a price of $13.20.
According to Sun, he plans to network at the May 22 memecoin dinner, โtalk crypto,โ and โdiscuss the futureโ of the industry. Itโs unclear why the Tron founder chose to announce his planned presence at the event now, when the leaderboard was finalized on May 12.
Cointelegraph reached out to a spokesperson for Sun for comment, but had not received a response at the time of publication.
Though not a surprise to many who speculated that Sun was the individual behind the memecoin purchases, his attendance at the dinner only deepens his ties to the Trump administration and the presidentโs family.ย In addition to the dinner for the 220 tokenholders, Trump said he would hold a reception and โVIP tourโ for the top 25 wallets on the leaderboard.
Related: What to expect at Trumpโs memecoin dinner
Sun spent $75 million on tokens through World Liberty Financial, the crypto platform backed by Trumpโs three sons, including a $30 million investment a few weeks after the 2024 election. The Tron founder is also an adviser to the company.
Before Trump won the November election, Sun had been facing a lawsuit from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed in 2023 over the alleged โorchestration of the unregistered offer and sale, manipulative trading, and unlawful touting of crypto asset securities.โ In February, roughly a month after Trump took office and appointed Commissioner Mark Uyeda as acting chair of the SEC, the regulator and Sun jointly filed a motion for a federal judge to stay the case, which was granted.
Memecoinโs potential conflicts of interest are affecting Congress
Sunโs and othersโ involvement in Trumpโs crypto ventures has prompted calls for investigations and oversight among many Democratic lawmakers, who argued that some individuals could use digital assets to essentially purchase influence with the president. The concerns initially slowed progress on a bill to regulate stablecoins in the Senate, the GENIUS Act, complicated by World Liberty Financialโs own stablecoin, USD1. The chamber voted to move forward on the bill on May 19, a few hours before Sunโs announcement.
โHow convenient: the day after the Senate advances the GENIUS Act, Justin Sun โ a major investor in the Trump family crypto venture โ announces heโs getting a private dinner as the presidentโs top crypto buyer,โ said Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, according to Bloomberg. โItโs critical that everyone understands the GENIUS Act doesnโt stop this type of corruption โ it greenlights it.โ
At a May 20 oversight hearing, Maryland Representative Glenn Ivey questioned SEC Chair Paul Atkins on Sunโs case being stayed, as well as his investments in World Liberty Financial and Trumpโs memecoin. Though the case was stayed before Atkins was sworn in as chair, Ivey expressed concern about the timeline between Sunโs investments and the SEC not pursuing its own enforcement action.
The memecoin dinner applicants are likely still subject to background checks before meeting Trump in person. As of May 20, those planning to attend included Kronos Research chief investment officer Vincent Liu, Hyperithm co-CEO Oh Sangrok, Synthetix founder Kain Warwick, a consultant named Vincent Deriu, crypto user Morten Christensen, a World Liberty Financial adviser going by the pseudonym โOgle,โ and a representative from the startup MemeCore.
Magazine: Trumpโs crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions
