$TRUMP meme coin soars 850% amid Trump’s inauguration
President-elect Donald Trump gives remarks alongside Melania Trump at a candlelight dinner at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC, on Jan. 19, 2025. Trump will be sworn in as the 47th U.S. president on Jan. 20. (AFP Photo)
The value of Donald Trump’s newly launched cryptocurrency, $TRUMP, surged by more than 850% since its kickoff, bringing the holdings of the U.S. president-elect and his associates to an estimated worth of nearly $50 billion ahead of his Jan. 20 inauguration.
On Monday at 8:30 a.m. (GMT+3), the meme coin was worth around $61.3, bringing the market capitalization for $TRUMP to approximately $12.2 billion, according to CoinMarketCap. At this price, the 800 million meme coins still in Trump and his associates’ hands are worth approximately $49.04 billion.
With the exception of “stablecoins,” tokens pegged to stable assets such as the U.S. dollar, cryptocurrencies often have extremely volatile fluctuations, and it is not uncommon for their price to collapse, particularly in the case of meme coins. Trump’s meme coin has already risen to $75 before falling back.
Neither Trump nor the company managing the token’s launch, Fight Fight Fight LLC, offered details about how much he made from the initial batch of meme coins released. The coin’s official site said 200 million meme coins were issued, with Fight Fight Fight saying an additional 800 million would be added over the next three years.
$MELANIA followed $TRUMP
Trump unveiled the so-called meme coin on Jan. 18, designed to capitalize on the popularity of a certain personality, movement, or viral internet trend on Saturday, in a post on his Truth Social platform and X.
On Sunday, incoming first lady Melania Trump issued her own cryptocurrency, called $MELANIA, surging over 45% to $10.7.
Initially opposed to cryptocurrency, Trump made a sharp about-face during his 2024 presidential campaign, becoming a champion of the concept and promising to develop the sector, notably by loosening regulations.
Before this new announcement, businessmen linked to Trump had in October put online a crypto trading platform called World Liberty Financial.
Meme coins have no economic or transactional value and are often seen as a means of speculative trading.
