Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free
Your guide to what the 2024 US elections mean for Washington and the world
The total value of a circulating memecoin backed by Donald Trump has reached more than $12 billion, sparking accusations that the new president is exploiting his supporters’ enthusiasm for financial gain.
Since its launch Friday evening, the $TRUMP cryptocurrency — in which Trump’s family business has a direct stake — has risen from around $6 to $61, bringing the value of coins in circulation to around $12,000. $1 billion, according to Coinbase data.
The token’s growing value has already made it one of the crypto market’s largest “memecoins,” or tokens that represent viral moments online. Originally developed as an industry insider joke, memecoins have no business model or cash flow.
The number of new memecoins and their value have surged since Trump’s election victory in November. Industry executives and traders are betting that the new administration will take a friendlier approach toward cryptoassets.
Trump’s coin launched Friday evening on his Truth Social website, shortly after a gala in Washington for crypto executives and politicians to celebrate his inauguration, which takes place Monday. The accompanying website shows a photo of Trump with a raised fist and describes the piece as “the only official Trump meme.”
About 80% of the tokens will be held by CIC Digital, which is affiliated with the Trump Organization, and a company co-owned by CIC called Fight Fight Fight LLC, according to the token’s website — a reference to the latest assassination attempt of Trump. summer.
Tokens held by insiders will begin to be offered for sale over the next three to 12 months and available for sale during Trump’s four-year term.
“Trump owns 80% and he chooses the timing [the] launching hours before the inauguration is predatory and many will likely suffer,” Nick Tomaino, a venture capitalist, said on X.
The launch surprised many in the crypto market, but Binance, Coinbase and Kraken, three of the biggest cryptocurrency The exchanges have all since announced plans to trade the Trump coin on their markets.
The Trump family is increasingly interested in cryptocurrencies. The American president-elect and his three sons promoted World Liberty Financial, a crypto firm started by his longtime business partners and others, while Trump’s social media company failed I tried to buy Bakkt, a cryptocurrency trading platform.
On Saturday, Eric Trump described the Trump coin as “the hottest digital meme in the world” and said World Liberty was “just getting started.”
Anthony Scaramucci, Trump’s former communications director turned critic, also denounced the launch. “Trump’s memecoin stuff is bad for the [crypto] industry. Don’t be under any illusions,” he wrote on X.
The price of Solana, the blockchain used by the Trump coin and many other memecoins, hit an all-time high of $295 on Sunday. The American regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission, must rule in the coming months on whether to authorize American stock exchange funds to invest directly in Solana.
A spokesperson for Trump’s transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
