US President Donald Trump has hosted top purchasers of the cryptocurrency that bears his name at a gala dinner, in an event that protesters and his Democrat opponents branded as "corrupt".
$TRUMP was launched shortly before his inauguration in January, initially rocketing in value before falling sharply afterwards.
"It's fundamentally corrupt – a way to buy access to the President," Democrat senator Chris Murphy wrote on X.
Protesters gathered outside the event on Thursday night, which was held at a golf course near Washington DC, some carrying signs reading "stop crypto corruption" and "no kings."
The White House has rejected the accusations, and in a video of the dinner posted on social media, Trump is seen saying "I always put the country way ahead of the business."
"The Biden administration persecuted crypto innovators and we're bringing them back into the USA where they belong," Trump is also recorded as saying.
The event took place as Bitcoin – the leading cryptocurrency – was hitting a fresh record high price in dollar terms of almost $112,000 (£83,000) per coin, before falling back slightly.
What is $TRUMP?
$TRUMP is what is known as a meme coin – a type of cryptocurrency inspired by internet memes or viral online trends.
Its price peaked at $75 in January before plummeting to less than $8 in April – it was trading at around $12.50 at the time of writing.
"This is something that doesn't have obvious utility. It's not being used for payments. It's not being used as a store of value," said Rob Hadick, General Partner of Dragonfly, a crypto venture fund.
The dinner was advertised on the website gettrumpmemes.com as "the most EXCLUSIVE INVITATION in the World."
The top 220 purchasers of the meme coin, viewable on a leaderboard, received invitations to the "black-tie optional" event.
