Weeks after hosting a splashy event at Mar-a-Lago, the organizers behind President Donald Trump’s meme coin are back with a long-term plan for the token’s top holders.
Bill Zanker, a longtime Trump associate, has been at the center of the president’s meme coin operation since it launched early last year. Since then, Zanker has organized two gatherings for the president’s meme coin holders, both featuring drop-ins from Trump himself. Now, the entrepreneur is rolling out a permanent “Trump Coin Club”—which will seek to provide top holders with access to a recurring calendar of exclusive events.
“We want to reward our best holders and we're going to do many other events in the future,” Zanker told Decrypt. “We want to take care of them.”
The first Trump Coin Club event will take place next month at the FIFA World Cup finals. The top 19 holders of the president’s meme coin will be treated to a complimentary, three-day “luxury experience” culminating with a private suite viewing of the World Cup final match at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
“Not a lot of people can get these tickets,” Zanker said. FIFA president Gianni Infantino, a friend of the president, was not involved in securing the Level 3 suite, he added.
The World Cup experience will feature perks including accommodation at the St. Regis New York, a gala dinner, and VIP access to a night club—which has yet to be chosen, but will be “one of New York City's best,” Zanker said. Though Trump is widely expected to attend the World Cup Final, the president is not set to meet with his meme coin holders at the event.
Attendees will nonetheless undergo Secret Service security checks—and conceivably, anything could happen the day of, Zanker said.
“If there's a surprise, there will be a surprise,” he said.
Prior private meetings between Trump and his meme coin holders have attracted criticism in Washington from lawmakers who argue the president should disclose who attends such events, and what happens during them. At April’s Mar-a-Lago meme coin gala, the president discussed topics including the Iran war with an audience featuring many foreign token holders, attendees said.
Zanker said the top 19 meme coin holders eligible to attend next month’s World Cup trip “can come from anywhere,” with the exclusion of OFAC-sanctioned countries like Iran and North Korea. All winners will undergo know-your-customer verification, he added.
Following the World Cup event, Zanker said he plans to host similar gatherings “at least once a quarter” for top holders of Trump’s meme coin, which will also center around “big, international events.”
What’s the ultimate aim of the Trump Coin Club? Zanker deflected when asked if it had to do with boosting the meme coin’s price, which is down over 97% since its peak last January. The token, which boasted a fully diluted valuation of nearly $75 billion on the eve of the president’s second inauguration, is now worth roughly $2 billion.
Zanker said, though, he wants “people staying with the coin”—a goal that could be reached by offering consistent access to luxury experiences. At writing, for instance, you can’t find a nosebleed ticket to the World Cup Final for less than $8,000. By contrast, a $3,000 investment in Trump’s meme coin could have potentially got you into the April Mar-a-Lago event.
Zanker, a longtime entrepreneur who previously ran the president’s branded NFT, shoe, and watch endeavors, said he’s confident Trump’s token will continue to stand apart from other crypto offerings in the long-term.
“We’re not a cartoon,” he said. “We’re the biggest brand on Earth."
Though Zanker acknowledged that the token’s power comes from the endorsement of the world’s most powerful political leader, the entrepreneur pushed back on the notion that the president needs to become more personally involved with the project after he leaves office, as some top holders have hoped for.
“We're not thinking about that right now,” Zanker said. “He's the president of the United States. He's busy.”
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