Regardless of repeated claims from the White Home that President Donald Trump’s Thursday night gala for the highest holders of his cryptocurrency meme coin had nothing to do along with his official duties, a number of of these traders visited the White Home Friday afternoon for what they described as a particular VIP occasion, the attendees informed ABC Information.
Sangrok Oh, a Korean crypto investor and entrepreneur, informed ABC Information on Friday that he and different high traders had been invited to tour the White Home Friday afternoon, although it was not clear to him whether or not Trump himself would meet them.
“So, we will go to and tour the White Home [and] on the similar time discuss crypto industries and the way forward for crypto,” Oh stated.
Thursday evening’s black tie occasion, held at Trump’s Washington-area golf membership, was attended by round 200 cryptocurrency merchants, together with many from abroad, who gained admission by way of a contest that awarded invites to the highest traders in Trump’s meme coin — with at the least a number of the funds flowing instantly into the Trump household’s coffers.
Critics have blasted the gala as a “pay for play” occasion by which traders who poured tens of millions into Trump’s crypto coin obtained particular entry to the president.
Information that high $TRUMP coin traders visited the White Home appeared to contradict White Home Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s assertion Thursday that the president was attending the crypto gala in a private capability, and that for the reason that dinner didn’t happen on the White Home, it was separate from his official duties.
“The president is attending [the dinner] in his private time,” Leavitt stated Thursday. “It’s not a White Home dinner. It is not happening right here on the White Home.”
President Donald Trump speaks after signing government orders within the Oval Workplace of the White Home Could 23, 2025 in Washington.
Mandel Ngan/AFP through Getty Pictures
The White Home didn’t instantly reply on Friday to a request for remark from ABC Information.
Cherry Hsu, an government at MemeCore, a Singapore-based blockchain startup, stated the agency’s founder, recognized publicly as “Ice,” had additionally been invited to the White Home on Friday afternoon. MemeCore, in accordance with the contest leaderboard, completed second within the competitors with $TRUMP coin holdings in extra of $1 million.
And late Friday, Justin Solar, a Chinese language crupto mogul and the highest investor in Trump’s meme coin, posted a highly produced video of his White Home tour, writing on X, “Was an honor to be invited to tour the @WhiteHouse. Such a privilege to see it in particular person.”
Along with his multimillion-dollar funding within the $TRUMP coin, Solar has additionally invested $75 million in World Liberty Financial, one other Trump-backed crypto enterprise. One month after that funding, SEC legal professionals underneath the Trump administration moved to halt an alleged fraud case in opposition to Solar.
The Trump meme coin’s web site at one level earlier this month marketed a “Particular VIP White Home tour” for the highest 25 meme coin holders as a part of the competition — however as of final week, the location stated solely {that a} “Particular VIP tour” could be organized, with out mentioning the White Home.
The positioning additionally included a disclaimer saying the tour was being organized by the Combat Combat Combat LLC, and that the president himself could be showing as a “visitor.”
