Trump-backed memecoin value tops $13B

A normal Congress would not allow this behavior but this is the world we've been living in since 2016.

Cryptocurrencies, in particular memecoins, are a folly. I hope that foresighted economists in nations' governments will eventually find the right frameworks to regulate them, or outlaw them. Right now, there's a group of fools out there trying to corner one another in this wild speculation, all stirred by the promise of quick gain to them by rich people holding the actual significant amount of stock (80%!!) acquired at nearly no cost.

Notwithstanding the probable covert and concerted agitation by the creators of the currency to get the ball rolling and keep up a steady flow of new speculators to fork out their money, whether these speculators come out ahead or not, it can be argued that they're all asking for it: they bought themselves in out of greed. But how can one not call the one who indirectly stirred this marginal increase in greed in the world evil?

> This wallet sold over $32 Million worth of TRUMP$TRUMP in 30 minutes without ever buying any tokens. #TRUMP #MELANIA

Looks like someone around him realised the same thing.

I'm struggling to understand when is the right time to downsell. Will it be seen as a rug pull? The last report I saw said 80% stocks held by Trump himself, which means over $2b of value lies somewhere else.

Literally makes "follow the money" easier btw, according to a forensic accountant I know who does this for financial crime cases.

Since such transactions would be off-exchange, they would not impact the traded price much, and some of the money could be recycled to support the publicly traded price high.

It's going to be a crazy four years.

The total value of a memecoin in circulation that is backed by Donald Trump has hit more than $12bn, sparking accusations that the incoming president is exploiting his supporters’ enthusiasm for financial gain. Since its launch on Friday evening, the $TRUMP cryptocurrency — in which Trump’s family business owns a direct stake — has soared from about $6 to $61, making the value of the coins in circulation worth about $12.1bn, according to data from Coinbase.

The rapidly increasing value of the token has already made it one of the crypto market’s biggest “memecoins”, or tokens that represent online viral moments. Initially developed as an insiders’ industry joke, memecoins have no business model or cash flows.

The number of new memecoins, and their value, have jumped since Trump’s election victory in November. Industry executives and traders are betting that the new administration will adopt a friendlier approach to cryptoassets. Trump’s coin was launched on 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 on Monday. The accompanying website shows a picture of Trump with his fist aloft and describes the coin as “the only official Trump meme”. About 80 per cent of the tokens will be held by CIC Digital, which is affiliated to the Trump Organization, and a CIC co-owned business called Fight Fight Fight LLC, according to the token’s website — a reference to the attempt to assassinate Trump last summer.

The tokens held by insiders will start to be unlocked for sale over the next three to 12 months and available to be sold during Trump’s four-year term.

“Trump owning 80 per cent and timing [the] launch hours before inauguration is predatory and many will probably get hurt by it,” said Nick Tomaino, a venture capitalist, on X.

The launch took many in the crypto market by surprise but Binance, Coinbase and Kraken, three of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, have all since announced plans to trade the Trump coin on their markets. The Trump family has taken a growing interest in cryptocurrency. The US president-elect and his three sons have been promoting World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture set up by his longtime business partners and others, while Trump’s social media company unsuccessfully tried to buy Bakkt, a cryptocurrency trading venue. On Saturday, Eric Trump described the Trump coin as “the hottest digital meme on earth” and said World Liberty was “just getting started”.

Anthony Scaramucci, Trump’s former communications director turned critic, also hit out at the launch. “The Trump memecoin stuff is bad for the [crypto] industry. Don’t delude yourself,” he wrote on X. The price of Solana, the blockchain used by the Trump coin and many other memecoins, hit a record high of $295 on Sunday. US regulator the Securities and Exchange Commission is due to make a ruling in the coming months on whether to permit US stock market funds to invest directly in Solana.

A spokesperson for the Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.