Days before his second inauguration, President-elect Donald Trump launched a memecoin cryptocurrency commemorating his response to the July 2024 assassination attempt.
The new $TRUMP meme coin, a type of cryptocurrency, was launched Friday night with a post on Trump’s Truth Social social media platform and social network X, formerly known as Twitter. According to the coin’s website gettrumpmemes.com, there are currently 200 million $TRUMP coins available, with plans to increase to 1 billion over the next three years.
The site identifies Trump as the “crypto president,” and the coin depicts the president-elect with his “fist in the air and his iconic battle cry, ‘Fight, fight, fight.'” He made this call after the assassination attempt on Butler on July 13, 2024. Pennsylvania.
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Meme coins are a type of cryptocurrency typically inspired by internet memes, often pop culture images and trends. A famous meme featuring the Japanese dog Kabosu became a popular meme online in the early 2010s.
And in 2013, Kavos became the face of Dogecoin, which became one of the most popular “meme stocks” during the retail trading boom caused by the coronavirus pandemic. CNBC previously reported that Elon Musk famously changed the Twitter logo to the Dogecoin logo in April 2023.
President Trump has named Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswami to co-lead the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
As of 1pm ET on Saturday, Trumpcoin was trading at around $31, according to cryptocurrency exchange Geckoterminal. The site said the coin was worth 18 cents when trading began.
As of noon Saturday, Trumpcoin had a fully diluted valuation of approximately $31.37 billion and a market capitalization of more than $6.27 billion.
“Trumpcoin could take the crypto world by storm and stand to challenge Dogecoin’s hegemony in the memecoin ecosystem,” Boaz Sobrado, a London-based fintech analyst, wrote in Forbes. I am writing on .com.
“$TRUMP’s surprising launch caught the entire industry off guard and speaks to both[Trump’s]personal influence and crypto’s dominance within his administration,” Axios reporter Ben・Written by Mr. Berkowitz and Mr. Brady Dale.
They say Trump’s move into cryptocurrencies appeared to have netted him and his company more than $25 billion in profits on paper. ”
According to the coin’s website, CIC Digital LLC, an affiliate of the Trump Organization, and Fight Fight Fight LLC, which is co-owned by CIC Digital, together own 80% of the coin. Axios reports that the coins have a three-year unlock schedule, meaning you can’t get rid of all your coins at once.
When the Trump Coin announcement spread on social media, there were “serious questions about the legitimacy” of the cryptocurrency, news site Crypto Briefing reported. However, the site reported that this new project is likely the work of people who collaborated on President Trump’s “America First Collection” of digital trading cards.
Investors should remember that cryptocurrencies can be volatile. Anyone buying the new coins will have to agree to terms and conditions, including agreeing not to file a class action lawsuit in the future, a move to reduce financial risk for the company and its issuer, Newsweek reported. magazine reported.
This is the latest in Trump’s merchandising offers, which include Trump sneakers, Victory Cologne, watches (each model costs $100,000) and a Bible.
You can purchase Trump Coins using the Moonshot app. It is possible that more crypto proposals will be made during President Trump’s term. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman nominee Paul Atkins is considered more crypto-friendly than outgoing Democratic SEC Chairman Gary Gensler.
And President Trump is considering creating a strategic reserve for Bitcoin, considered the first successful digital currency.
Forbes’ Sobrado wrote that President Trump’s cryptocurrency trade is a natural progression of his brand building, which includes hotels and casinos.
“While the emergence of a presidential meme coin may seem unprecedented, it follows a familiar pattern given President Trump’s history of leveraging his brand,” he wrote. “The president has consistently demonstrated the ability to monetize his personal brand. What is different this time is not the strategy but the medium and, ironically, the regulatory environment that made it possible.”
Contributed by Jonathan Limehouse and Bailey Schulz, USA TODAY
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump Meme Coin Price: Crypto Coin Gains $31 Billion Overnight