Nicholas Pinto, a 25-year-old social media influencer, accumulated more than $360,000 in President Donald Trump’s cryptocurrency to attend an “unforgettable Gala DINNER” with the commander-in-chief. The food, though, was forgettable. “Trash,” Pinto texted Fortune during the banquet. “Walmart steak, man.”
The menu included a “Trump organic field green salad” and an “entrée duet” of filet mignon and pan-seared halibut. “Everyone at my table was saying the food was some of the worst food that they ever had,” said Pinto after the meal.
But the real draw of the evening, of course, wasn’t steak or halibut. It was Trump himself. The top 220 holders of his memecoin were promised an exclusive evening with the 47th president in what critics have called one of the most blatant pay-for-access schemes in presidential history. In total, investors bought up $148 million of the cryptocurrency to attend the dinner, according to crypto analytics firm Inca Digital.
“The President is working to secure GOOD deals for the American people, not for himself,” said White House spokesperson Anna Kelly in a statement.
Was the price tag worth it? “I was hoping for either Big Macs or pizza,” Pinto said, referring to the president’s well-known taste for McDonald’s. “That would have been better than the food that we were served.”
The ‘unforgettable’ gala
In January, two days before his inauguration, Trump announced that he was launching his own memecoin, or cryptocurrency whose price trades on the virality of a joke or person, not its utility.
Pinto, a Trump supporter who happened to be staying at the Trump National Doral hotel in Miami at the time, started buying up the token. “I saw it listed, and it was skyrocketing,” he said.
He was already flush in cash. As a 13-year-old, Pinto netted $100,000 in one year through his launch of a company that made scooter wheels, and then he parlayed that success into a career as a social media influencer. He currently has 2.6 million followers on Instagram.
While Trump’s memecoin initially jumped in price to a market capitalization of almost $8.8 billion, it eventually plummeted to now around $2.8 billion. To help increase enthusiasm for the token, the team behind the cryptocurrency announced in late April that the memecoin’s top 220 holders would be eligible for an exclusive dinner with the president at the Trump National Golf Club in Potomac Falls, Va.
Pinto wanted to attend, so he bought up enough cryptocurrency to snag no. 72 on the leaderboard, which displayed each invitee’s $TRUMP holdings along with a pseudonym. Pinto’s nickname was “rich.”
As the dinner neared, Pinto was so excited that he spray-painted his “G-Wagon,” a luxury SUV from Mercedes-Benz that costs around $150,000, with the $TRUMP ticker.
But on the day of the memecoin extravaganza, he decided—in a nod to the crypto industry’s favorite symbol of wealth—to drive down from his home in New Jersey in his 2023 “Lambo,” or Lamborghini. Wearing a black tie and a suit, he wondered who else was coming.
Justin Sun, a Chinese crypto billionaire reportedly under investigation by the Justice Department during former President Joe Biden’s administration, had confirmed his attendance. Other attendees included the CEO of a Singaporean crypto startup and an Australian crypto investor. “I really would love to meet Elon Musk,” noted Pinto, referring to the Tesla CEO. “I don’t know if that’s gonna happen, but that’s definitely my top person.”
When Pinto showed up to the dinner Thursday evening, he was instead greeted by a crowd of critics. The nonprofit Public Citizen had organized a protest, which included an appearance from Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.). “Trump’s crypto businesses constitute one of the most corrupt innovations in American political history,” Robert Weissman, copresident of Public Citizen, previously told Fortune.
Inside the Trump National Golf Club, the sentiment was mixed. “Most of the ppl here are sketchy ngl [not gonna lie],” Pinto texted Fortune. Trump did appear and gave a speech, but Pinto described the president’s address as “pretty much like bullshit.” And most guests had no access to the commander-in-chief, he said. Even Caitlin Sinclair, the host of the dinner and an anchor on the conservative news network OANN, wasn’t able to get much face time with Trump. “She said, ‘Oh, Trump didn’t even give me a picture,’” Pinto remembered.
As the gala ended around 10 p.m., Pinto, who didn’t meet Elon Musk, got a ride from his father back to a nearby hotel. He then readied himself for an after-party organized by the Singaporean crypto company at the Ciel Capitol Hill, a rooftop club in Washington, D.C.
But first, he and his father needed to grab a bite to eat. Pinto was still hungry after the underwhelming meal. “The only good part,” he told Fortune, “[was] the bread and the butter.”
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
The post Influencer who attended Trump’s memecoin dinner says he got a ‘Walmart steak’—and no access to the president appeared first on Fortune.
