Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Unlock the free White House Watch newsletter
Your guide to what the 2024 US election means for Washington and the world
The total value of a memecoin backed by Donald Trump has hit more than $13 billion, amid accusations that the incoming 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 nearly $6 to $67, bringing the coin’s value in circulation to about $13.2 billion, according to data from Coinbase on Sunday.
The token’s rapidly rising value has already made it one of the crypto market’s biggest “memecoins,” or tokens that represent online viral moments. Initially developed as an inside industry joke, memecoins have no business model or cash flow.
The number of new memecoins and their value has increased since Trump’s election victory in November. Industry executives and traders are betting that the new administration will take a friendlier approach to cryptoassets.
Trump’s coin was launched Friday evening on his Truth Social website following a gala for crypto executives and politicians in Washington to celebrate his inauguration, which took place on Monday. The accompanying website features an image of Trump with his fist raised and describes the coin as “the only official Trump meme.”
About 80 percent of the tokens will be held by CIC Digital, which is affiliated with the Trump Organization, and CIC’s co-owned business Fight Fight LLC, according to Token’s website — a reference to the latest Trump assassination attempt this summer.
Tokens held by insiders will begin to be unlocked for sale in the next three to 12 months and can be sold during Trump’s four-year term.
“Trump owns 80 percent and time [the] Launching hours before the opening is violent and many can get hurt,” said Nick Tomaino, venture capitalist at X.
The launch surprised many in the crypto market but Binance, Coinbase and Kraken, the three largest Cryptocurrency Exchanges, all have since announced plans to trade Trump coins on their markets.
The Trump family has taken a growing interest in cryptocurrency. The president-elect of the United States and his three sons has been promoted World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture founded by his longtime business partner and others, when Trump’s social media company failed Tried to buy Bakkt, a cryptocurrency trading venue.
On Saturday, Eric Trump described the Trump coin as “the hottest digital meme in the world” and said World Liberty was “beginning”.
Anthony Scaramucci, Trump’s former communications director turned critic, also hit the launch. “Trump is bad for memecoin stuff [crypto] Art does not deceive itself,” he wrote in X.
A spokesman for the Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Jonathan Bixby, a crypto entrepreneur, said Trump’s MemeCoin could possibly be the “opening gun to what’s called a ‘banana zone,'” a crypto trading term where prices can suddenly spike.
“It validates these assets and it invites every celebrity to come back and start promoting. These next few months are going to be wild.”
The price of Solana, the blockchain used by Trump Coin and many other memecoins, hit a record A maximum of $295 On Sunday the US regulator Securities and Exchange Commission is set to make a ruling next month on whether to allow US stock market funds to invest directly in Solana.
Click here To visit the Digital Assets Dashboard
