Fifty of the $TRUMP memecoin dinner invitees hold crypto assets named for Pepe the Frog, which is known as an alt-right symbol, as well as swastikas, a racial slur and references to anti-semitic ideology, according to an analysis by CREW, adding to concerns raised by the dinner, which represents a naked attempt by President Donald Trump to profit from his office.

The dinner, promoted on the $TRUMP website as “[t]he most EXCLUSIVE INVITATION in the World,” is scheduled to take place on May 22 at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia. The top 220 time-weighted holders of $TRUMP between April 23 and May 12 have won invitations to the event, pending background checks, and the top 25 of those will be granted additional access through an “exclusive reception” with the president before the dinner and a “VIP tour,” reportedly taking place at the White House.

$TRUMP is hosted on Solana, one of several blockchains that allow users to mint and name their own coins. These highly volatile tokens, which tend to depreciate in value, often generate trader interest by referencing popular memes and cultural events. Many of the wallets ranked on the Trump leaderboard hold dozens of these so-called memecoins.

The most wallets on the list, 45 in all, held assets named for Pepe the Frog as of May 12—the day winners were finalized—but holdings may have changed since they were analyzed.

Originating from a 2005 web comic, Pepe the Frog’s association with the alt-right dates back to the 2016 election cycle, when users of the anonymous web forum 4chan began to use him as a symbol of white nationalism. Since then, Pepe appeared as a symbol at the 2017 Unite the Right rally and the January 6 insurrection, where participants wore helmets and masks featuring the image. Followers of the Christian nationalist and white supremacist Nick Fuentes refer to themselves as Groypers, which is a variation of the Pepe character. The Anti-Defamation League qualified Pepe as a hate symbol in 2016, though it has noted it’s not always used that way. 

Pepe Coin, a popular token, was launched on Ethereum in 2023. The cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase drew criticism from traders for discussing Pepe’s use by the alt-right in a newsletter that followed the coin’s launch, and later issued an apology. Coins held in the $TRUMP leaderboard wallets include many different iterations of the Pepe character; some, like Trump Pepe, are explicitly political, while others, like AIPEPE, are not. Pepe is not always associated with white nationalism, and owning a coin associated with Pepe may have nothing to do with the owner’s political views. Nevertheless, it’s concerning that so many guests of the president own crypto assets named for a symbol with white nationalist associations.

Nine of the wallets, including some that hold Pepe-themed assets, held assets whose names are outright racist or anti-semitic. For example, one token is called “FUCK THE JEWS,” while another is simply the n-word. Four others are variations on the word “swastika,” such as “Swasticoin” and “Swastika Coin.”

It is not clear to what extent holders of these assets intended to acquire them. For example, it is possible to automate purchases, a strategy that wouldn’t necessarily take into account the name of the assets being purchased. Furthermore, even if the buyers did knowingly buy the tokens, they could have done so solely as a bet on their value, indifferent to the name of the asset. 

The difficult-to-trace nature of crypto transactions makes it impossible to know who made the guest list for the dinner. One investor, Justin Sun—the controversial, Chinese-born crypto CEO who garnered attention last November for a $30 million purchase of crypto tokens from World Liberty Financial, a Trump-backed crypto business—has stated publicly that he is the top holder of $TRUMP and that he plans to attend the private dinner. At the time the dinner invitation winners were finalized, the wallet affiliated with Sun held ten Pepe-themed assets, but none containing any of the other more incendiary terms CREW searched.

Bloomberg also reported that more than half of the top 220 holders are likely to be located outside of the U.S. Although presidents are largely exempt from federal ethics laws that govern conflicts of interest, they are subject to the Foreign Emoluments Clause of the Constitution, which forbids presidents from accepting things of value from foreign governments without the approval of Congress.

Trump profits directly from sales of the token. A Trump Organization affiliate, CIC Digital LLC, and a second organization, Fight Fight Fight LLC, collectively own 80% of the total supply of the token. Additionally, both entities collect a portion of the fees on $TRUMP transactions. Since the token launched in January, wallets linked to the coin’s creators have accrued more than $324 million in revenue from fees. The dinner announcement was followed by a price spike of nearly 60% and a massive surge in trading volume.

By launching an anonymous bidding war for access to the presidency, Trump is opening his doors to influence peddlers with murky motivations. These attendees’ other investments show one more reason why that’s a bad idea. 

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