What It Was Like Inside the Trump Crypto Dinner

A room full of crypto bros eagerly awaited President Donald Trump’s arrival at his National Golf Club in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, anticipating an announcement about the future of crypto in the United States. Bitcoin had just hit a new all-time high, the vibes were tremendous and expectations were grand.

That’s when Nicholas Pinto, a 25-year-old social media influencer and self-described car enthusiast, burst through the door of the golf club. Sweating slightly as he made his way in, Pinto told Decrypt he thought he might miss it after a traffic-heavy, four-and-a-half-hour drive.

What he saw inside was a room set up like a wedding, with nine people per table. Pinto said he was handed a raffle ticket as he came in and told he was free to sit anywhere, except for the three tables at the front reserved for VIPs. He sat in the back, at a table with two other attendees, and started guzzling down water.

The influencer had made it to the Trump crypto dinner, an exclusive event held for the top 220 holders of the president’s official meme coin. On average, top-tier “VIP” attendees—the top 25 holders—spent $4.8 million to sit on those front three tables. By contrast, Pinto’s Trump meme coin holdings were a mere $320,620, despite doubling his stake in an attempt to become a VIP.

Each seat had a small goodie bag containing a Trump meme coin hat, a small poster, and a plastic “celebration card”—which attendees fought over, according to Pinto. He also expected to receive a limited-edition NFT for attending and holding his tokens, but he was unable to confirm if he’d received it yet.

Most in attendance wore a tuxedo or a suit and tie. Pinto said he wore a t-shirt under a suit jacket. He also noted there appeared to be a lack of women at the event, besides the night’s host, Caitlin Sinclair. 

President Trump then arrived in a helicopter that was viewable from the dinner hall—the attendees flocked to the window to see it land. The VIPs were then led to a private room, where long-time Trump business partner Bill Zanker introduced the president from behind a podium.

“All of you should be very proud because you’re the top 25 holders of TRUMP coin,” Zanker said, with a smile on his face. “It’s just the most exciting thing I can imagine, to have the privilege of introducing the next president of the United States: Number 45. Number 47. And, number 48!” he proclaimed, suggesting a third Trump term, which the U.S. Constitution forbids.

President Trump appeared from behind a blue curtain to applause from the VIP attendees, before performing a brief, four-minute speech in which he patted his own back for embracing crypto.

The VIPs and Trump then filtered into the main room where Trump held a longer 23-minute speech, in front of four draped American flags.

“Trump discussed how resilient crypto prices had been during the tariff tantrum in the markets and noted how it was soaring,” Jeff “Jiho” Zirlin, co-founder of Ronin and Axie Infinity creator Sky Mavis, told Decrypt. “He stressed how America must be a leader in crypto but also all new fields of business,” he said.

“Hearing Trump speaking in-person [at] a close distance and feel his charisma is very inspiring,” Vincent Liu, CIO of Kronos Research, told Decrypt. “The president didn’t make any special announcement but reiterated the support for crypto industry.”

All in all, the president was only in attendance for about an hour. Some attendees were pleased enough by the honor of hearing Trump speak in person, but others were left a little disappointed.

“Honestly? Bit of a snooze,” Morten Christensen, founder of AirdropAlert, told Decrypt. “I had my phone out and wallets ready in case he dropped any tradeable alpha—nothing. Would’ve loved a spicy ‘those damn Europeans’ line before he dropped the EU tariffs the next morning, but nope.”

“I don’t think anyone even got a photo or autograph,” Pinto told Decrypt. “Every attendee was accessible. Except the most desired one: Donald J. Trump. The dinner was false advertising,” he said.

Outside the Virginia golf club, over 100 demonstrators protested the dinner calling for the end of “crypto corruption.” In the lead up to the event, high-ranking U.S. Democrats had chastised the president for the perceived shadiness of the event, citing the potential for foreign actors to be buying political influence through a meme coin. This surprised Christensen, who didn’t think it was a big deal.

“I honestly didn’t expect that much drama—it felt like a crypto dinner turned political rally real quick,” Christensen told Decrypt. “[The media] seemed concerned about foreign influence or shady money slipping into the room. But to me, it looked like a bunch of internet kids and crypto nerds who just wanted to say, ‘I was in the room with Trump.’ Nothing more, nothing less.”

And as for the dinner itself? Pinto wasn’t impressed.

“Man, it was cheap steak that was overcooked,” he told Decrypt. “I assume if Trump had stayed maybe the food would’ve been better. But since he didn’t, they did the American ‘buy cheap steaks in bulk and save money’ like McDonalds does, in my opinion.”

Pinto was similarly unimpressed with the company, and the security measures taken to group them together.

“I was surprised that they didn’t ask more questions,” the influencer said. “I’ve done background checks in the past, but this was the most simple one I’ve done.”

Pinto added: “Everyone there was sketchy, faceless people. Anytime I took pics they would move their heads or use [their] hands to block [their] face.” 

And the raffle ticket? It was for one of six Trump-branded, limited-edition watches. Four of them were reserved for the top four TRUMP holders, including Chinese crypto billionaire Justin Sun. The other two were raffled off.

Pinto didn’t win one. “But I don’t think that’d change my mind about the event,” he said.

“We were under the impression that we’d “dine” with the 47th president! We were lied to and used like puppets.”