While the crypto world was excitedly counting down the days to Donald Trump’s inauguration, the president-elect had a surprise up his sleeve.
Late on Friday night and seemingly out of nowhere, he unveiled the official TRUMP token in celebration of his return to the White House.
In a sense of comic timing, the launch happened as heavyweights from the crypto industry attended a glitzy ball in Washington DC, with executives unaware this unprecedented move was coming.
This surely has to rank as one of the most successful and consequential token debuts of all time.
CoinMarketCap data showed it accelerated from $6.24 to $75.35 — a 1,100% rise — in a little over 36 hours, contributing to frenzied market trading over the weekend.
TRUMP’s price since launch. Source: CoinMarketCapTRUMP is now one of the 20 biggest cryptocurrencies in the world by market capitalization — leapfrogging established digital assets including Shiba Inu, Litecoin and even Bitcoin Cash.
But further surprises were still in store. First Lady Melania Trump revealed on Sunday that she had also launched her own token. As you might have guessed, it’s called MELANIA.
It was fascinating to see how the arrival of a second meme coin in as many days affected price dynamics.
After Melania’s announcement was made on X, TRUMP plunged by 46% in the space of an hour — but prices later recovered somewhat.
At this point, it’s worth drilling down into the tokenomics of TRUMP — and analyzing the carefully written language on its official website.
Source: GetTrumpMemes.comFor one, you won’t see this described as a cryptocurrency anywhere — instead, each token is individually referred to as a “meme” or a “card.”
The circulating supply has been set at 200 million to begin with, and this will gradually rise to one billion over the next three years.
But here’s the thing: just 10% of this total supply has actually been earmarked for public distribution, with another 10% set aside for liquidity.
A staggering 80% is held by the meme coin’s creators and a company called CIC Digital LLC, which is affiliated with the Trump Organization.
Let’s put these figures into context. While TRUMP’s current market cap is about $10 billion right now, the tokens that are locked away leave this project with a fully diluted value of approximately $51 billion.
And as the on-chain analytics tool Arkham Intelligence noted, this amounts to a huge windfall for the president (on paper anyway) assuming the two subsidiaries involved in this project belong to him.
It pointed to Forbes estimates that Trump had a net worth of $5.6 billion as of November 2024. This meme coin stake would multiply that eight times over — but just like his stock in Truth Social, its value would fall precipitously should he start selling up.
There is so much to unpack here. For one, the TRUMP token’s official website is reminiscent of what a half-baked crypto project would throw up in the heady ICO era — with frothy statements promising owners a “piece of history” and the chance to “fight for what matters.”
The small print also stresses that this meme coin isn’t intended to be an investment opportunity, but the millions of traders who will have rushed in to buy this token will beg to differ.
Weirdly, the arrival of the TRUMP token also carries a lot of meaning.
It underlines how the new president plans to tear down the regulations that have been holding the crypto industry back — for better or worse — with the meme coin market set to enter a whole new dimension in 2025.
TRUMP also emphasizes that this is a politician who is pro-crypto, and not just pro-BTC. His penchant for meme coins may end up being a frustration for Bitcoiners who worry that the speculation, froth and excess in the altcoin markets serves as a distraction from the world’s biggest cryptocurrency, and what it is aiming to achieve.
Even some of the new president’s most ardent supporters have questioned this move, with one describing it as “the largest unforced error ever made before a presidential inauguration.”
“Avowed and explicit” Trump support Nic Carter, founding partner of crypto-focused Castle Island Ventures, told Politico:
“It’s absolutely preposterous that he would do this … They’re plumbing new depths of idiocy with the meme coin launch.”
SkyBridge Capital CEO Anthony Scaramucci — who briefly served as Trump’s communications director but endorsed the Democrats in 2020 and 2024 — was even more scathing.
“Most dangerous thing for country about Trump coin is what comes next. Now anyone in world can essentially deposit money into bank account of President of USA with a couple clicks. Every favor – geopolitical, corporate or personal – is now on sale, right out in the open.”
Coinage founder Zack Guzmán shared a delicious theory that Trump has just pulled off “the biggest power play you’ve ever seen” — by proving the crypto industry needs him more than he needs them.
He argues that “the only inner circle that matters in crypto now is his inner circle” — especially as the Trump family’s DeFi project, World Liberty Financial, continues to gain steam.
The president has taken a huge risk by launching a meme coin that could collapse in value at any moment. But as four years in power begins with no re-election to think about, it’s a risk he can afford to take — and a lucrative one.
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