President Trump is once again opening Mar-a-Lago to holders of his Solana-based meme token — but the price of VIP access this year is a fraction of what it was last time.
What’s happening
- The team behind the TRUMP token finalized a leaderboard tied to time-weighted holdings and other factors for a luncheon and conference at Mar-a-Lago scheduled for April 25. The top-tier VIPs (29 accounts) earned a private “meet and learn” with high-profile guests including Tether CTO Paolo Ardoino, retired boxer Mike Tyson, and Ark Invest’s Cathie Wood, in addition to lunch with President Trump.
- VIP qualification was based on points accrued from token holdings between March 12 and April 14; holders also earned 10 points for every $1 spent on Trump-branded merchandise during that period (a metric that doesn’t show up on-chain).
VIP threshold collapses
- Last year, qualifying for VIP access required multimillion-dollar stakes: the 25th-ranked VIP in May’s snapshot held nearly $3 million in TRUMP, and the average VIP threshold was about $4.78 million. The top holder then — an account labeled “Sun,” later confirmed by Justin Sun — held roughly $19 million in TRUMP at snapshot.
- This year the entry cost to be VIP plunged roughly 90%, from about $3 million to about $300,000. On-chain data and the final leaderboard show several VIP accounts held only low six-figure sums during the snapshot window. For example:
- An account beginning with “Ciz7y,” ranked 12th, never held more than 114,212 TRUMP during the snapshot — worth roughly $318,000 at recent prices (it briefly peaked at about $473,000 when TRUMP traded at $4.14 on March 15).
- Another address, “2ciorM,” transferred in ~102,000 TRUMP on March 12 and made no other moves; that balance placed it 17th on the leaderboard and is currently valued around $283,000.
Token price context
- The TRUMP token has fallen sharply since launch. It was trading recently around $2.80 — down about 29% in the last month and roughly 96% below its all-time high of $73.43 reached shortly after launch.
- The token briefly jumped about 40% after the latest event announcement but gave back those gains. By comparison, on last year’s snapshot day TRUMP was trading around $13.08 — roughly 370% higher than where it trades now.
Top holder this year
- Justin Sun remains the top account on the leaderboard, but the dollar value has shrunk. He holds about 3.3 million TRUMP tokens (roughly 1.4 million more tokens than last year) and the account is now worth around $9.3 million — well below the ~ $19 million valuation at last year’s snapshot.
Regulatory and practical notes
- Last year’s Trump meme coin dinner drew criticism from Democratic lawmakers and calls for an ethics probe; Senator Elizabeth Warren described the event as an “orgy of corruption,” arguing that attendees could be buying access to the president.
- For this event, attendees must pass a background check and cannot be residents of KYC-watchlist countries. The event’s terms say it may be canceled for any reason and do not guarantee President Trump’s attendance; if the event is canceled or Trump cannot attend, registered attendees will receive a Trump-themed NFT in lieu of the in-person experience.
Bottom line
VIP access to the Mar-a-Lago TRUMP event this year required far smaller token stakes than last year, reflecting a major decrease in the token’s market value and a looser barrier to entry for top-tier perks tied to crypto ownership.
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