Out of nowhere, the president-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, has amassed a paper fortune of around $40 billion (€38.9 billion) overnight with the launch of a memecoina newly created cryptocurrency without any underlying asset. The price of $TRUMP, the new token which serves to show support, has skyrocketed since its launch on Friday, just over two days before its promoter becomes the 47th president of the United States. Trump, who initially maintained that cryptocurrencies were a scam, has now become their staunch defender. During his mandate, he will approve measures to boost the sector.
The initiative was announced by the Republican through Truth, his social network, which has also reached quotes in the market that do not respond to its economic fundamentals. “My NEW Official Trump Meme is HERE! It’s time to celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING! Join my very special Trump Community. GET YOUR $TRUMP NOW,” he wrote, with a link to the platform where the coins can be purchased.
The $TRUMP website warns: “Trump Memes are intended to function as an expression of support and commitment to the ideals and beliefs embodied by the $TRUMP symbol and associated creatives, and are not intended to be, or be, objects of of, an investment opportunity, investment contract or security of any kind. GetTrumpMemes.com is non-political and has nothing to do with any political campaign or any political office or government agency,” it says.
The launch of digital assets just two days after returning to the White House raises questions about ethics and conflicts of interest. Trump has promised friendly regulation for the sector. The new memecoin It can be perceived as a way to inject money into the president.
The memecoins of Trump are a token or crypto asset that is traded on the Solana platform. They had a starting price of $10, but skyrocketed in just two days by more than 600% to a maximum of $72. At that price the capitalization or total value of the tokens on the market was over $14 billion, since there are $200 million of $TRUMP available. In addition, another 800 million more will be issued in three years, so that the value on paper that the market gives to the whole of the new cryptocurrency reached 72,000 million dollars.
According to the information provided on the website, 80% of the placement of the memecoin It is in the hands of CIC Digital, a subsidiary of the Trump Organization, and an entity co-owned by CIC called Fight Fight LLC, which refers to the phrase that Trump said after suffering an attack last July at a rally in Pennsylvania. Thus, at a price of $72, the Trumps’ stake would be valued at about $58 billion. Afterwards, the price fell to around 50 dollars, with which the capitalization was reduced to 50,000 million and the 800 million tokens of Trump and his family would be worth about 40,000 million dollars, although only on paper, for now.
The memecoins They have often been born as a joke, as an initiative with nothing of value behind it other than the support of those who are willing to buy them. They have extreme volatility, since they depend on fevers and fashions. The best known is Dogecoin, the cryptocurrency whose mascot is a dog that is somehow sponsored by Elon Musk.
The president-elect appointed Paul Atkins, a cryptocurrency advocate, to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In addition, he announced the appointment of a “crypto and artificial intelligence czar.” This is David Sacks, a prominent Silicon Valley investor – and close to Elon Musk -.
In September from his Mar-a-Lago mansion in Palm Beach (Florida) Trump presented World Liberty Finance, the cryptocurrency firm in which he participates with his sons Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Barron Trump, as well as other partners. “Right now you have a very hostile SEC, I guess you would have to say the Biden or Harris Administration, no one really knows what to call it, but maybe say a combination of both. But they have been very hostile to crypto, extremely hostile like no one can believe,” he said then, before reiterating his promise that the United States will be the world capital of the sector. “If we don’t do it, China will. China is doing it anyway. But if we don’t do it, we are not going to be the greatest, and we have to be the biggest and the best,” he added.
The former president praised the knowledge on the subject of his sons Eric Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and little Barron Trump, 18, who he said understood cryptocurrencies very well: “Barron knows a lot about this. Talk about your portfolio. “He has four wallets or something, but he knows about these things.”
His approach to the world of digital assets came through non-fungible tokens (NFT). With the support of his children, Trump began selling digital trading cards with which he raised a million and began to sympathize with the sector. “I think my children opened my eyes more than anything else,” he said.
The then Republican candidate implied that although he blindly supported the sector, he did not understand it very much. “It’s almost as if the young people know it much better than the older people,” he said. Without understanding it, he has made tens of billions of dollars.
