Trump's performance art has no creative bottlenecks. After going back and forth from imposing tariffs to pressuring for interest rate cuts, he remembered the meme he posted back in January.

$TRUMP Exclusive "VIP" Treatment for Big Players

In the early hours of today, the TRUMP Meme Coin official website suddenly announced an invitation for the top 220 holders to attend a luxury dinner. As soon as the news broke, it led to a massive unlocking, causing the price of TRUMP, which had been hovering below 10 dollars, to surge over 75% before retreating, with a current price of 13.34 dollars as of the time of writing.

Behind the huge fluctuations, speculators have already moved. According to monitoring by Lookonchain, a mysterious whale quickly acted after the dinner news was released, purchasing 407,000 $TRUMP for $5 million, and just 30 minutes later, liquidated for $5.73 million, netting a profit of $731,800, truly a precise strike. Meanwhile, another whale sold 630,000 $TRUMP (about $5.48 million) before the news was announced, missing out on a potential profit of $4.5 million.

The appeal of this banquet goes far beyond just "riding the wave." According to the official website, the top 25 token holders not only get to attend the banquet but will also be invited to an exclusive reception before the event, where they can have dinner face-to-face with Trump. Even more extravagant, there will be an exclusive "VIP White House tour" the next day. This event, organized by Fight Fight Fight LLC, claims to be a "once-in-a-lifetime prestigious experience," with Trump himself attending as a guest and not charging any fundraising fees.

The official website has also specially set up a holder ranking list, which displays the ranking of the largest investors in $TRUMP in real time. As long as you hold enough $TRUMP from April 23 to May 12 and maintain your holding period, you can make it to the "dinner invitation list." Currently, the investor ranked 25th holds about 4,000 $TRUMP, worth approximately $54,000. The official website claims: "The more you hold, and the longer you hold, the higher your ranking!" This set of rules clearly captures the mindset of large holders.

In January, Trump and his wife, Melania, launched two memes, $TRUMP and $MELANIA, on the eve of their inauguration. However, these two memes have become the "PTSD" of all people in the cryptocurrency circle. $TRUMP fell from a peak of $75.35 on January 19 to $13.34 today, and $MELANIA is even worse, slipping from a peak of $13.76 to now only $0.49.

Although $TRUMP and $MELANIA have been criticized for issues such as insider trading and draining market liquidity, it seems that the timing of the token issuance, which occurred before their inauguration and does not involve any constitutional violations, along with the SEC's shift in February this year to consider memes lacking actual use value as not subject to securities regulation, will leave the Trump couple unaffected by legal repercussions aside from public opinion pressure.

Dinner, Trump's marketing "tricks of the trade"

Using a private dinner as a gimmick and leveraging Trump himself for brand marketing is not a new tactic. Trump showcased this strategy to perfection during his first crypto project, the "Trump Trading Cards" NFT. Now, he is employing the same method again, using a VIP dinner and his personal brand to promote the $TRUMP meme coin, effectively capitalizing on the enthusiasm of fans and investors.

In the Trump Trading Cards project, Trump designed an incentive mechanism of "the more you buy, the more you earn." Purchasing packages of 4, 15, 75, or even up to 250 NFTs rewards buyers with increasing benefits. The biggest purchasers not only receive tickets to two VIP dinners but also experience the "ultimate experience" of sharing two cocktails with Trump himself. As of now, the dinner has been held three times in November 2023, May 2024, and September 2024.

This strategy, which combines scarcity with the celebrity effect, quickly ignited market enthusiasm upon its launch. In 2024, the first batch of about 50,000 NFTs, priced at $99 each, sold out in less than a day. Moreover, the rules stipulated that only the initial purchasers were eligible to participate in the grand dinner event, precisely tapping into fans' FOMO psychology. According to reports, many people purchased $10,000 Trump trading card NFTs just to attend this surreal and sweltering outdoor reception held at the former president's palace in Florida.

Shu Qi's husband, actor Feng Delun, will attend the Trump Trading Cards dinner in May 2024.

The official website claims that the Trump Trading Cards "have nothing to do with any political campaign" and that the dinner event was not of a political nature. Trump's speeches on these occasions, however, are identical to his campaign speeches, and familiar slogans and topics always resonate with fans. This kind of "non-political" packaging actually provides him with a stage that can attract money and strengthen the loyalty of his supporters.

Now, Trump has transplanted this "dinner marketing" strategy to the $TRUMP meme coin, adding new tricks such as White House VIP tours and leaderboard competitions to attract speculators and fans in droves. Whether it's NFT or meme coins, Trump's tactics remain consistent; he packages products with his personal "charisma," stimulates purchases with scarce experiences, and then avoids risks through "indirect control" operations. In this marketing game, Trump plays better than anyone.

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