A originally calm Saturday morning was shaken by a post from Trump. On the morning of January 18, Trump posted a meme coin called TRUMP on the social media platforms Truth Social and X, triggering a massive response in the crypto market.
The price of the official TRUMP meme coin soared. According to GMGN data, its market value briefly exceeded $30 billion that evening. The next day, it continued to rise, surpassing Dogecoin in total market value, reaching $82 and a total market value of $82 billion.
This meme coin has continued to dominate the focus of the crypto market. Based on the Forbes ranking data, if the TRUMP token price rises to $270, Trump will become the world's richest person. At the same time, the issuance method and capital operations behind TRUMP have also attracted high attention from regulatory organizations, crypto professionals, and investors.
This article will analyze the impact of this event on various potential stakeholders and the capital market, including whales, new users, the Solana ecosystem, and Trump himself.
Market value quickly reaches hundreds of billions, whales benefit, and new users enter the market
When Trump issued the coin, a crypto gala was underway. David Sacks, the crypto czar of the Trump administration, said, "The reign of terror against cryptocurrencies is over, and the dawn of American crypto innovation is just beginning."
A day earlier, the release of the TRUMP coin was initially mistaken for a hacker attack on Trump's social media platform. However, as time passed, its market performance completely changed this initial misunderstanding.
One hour after the coin was issued, GMGN market data showed that the TRUMP market value exceeded $3 billion, with a coin price of $3.25. The top 10 holders held about 89.61% of the tokens, with the top address holding 80%. Subsequently, the market value of the TRUMP token continued to soar, achieving a "quick" breakthrough of $100 billion. As of 5 pm on January 19, the FDV of the official TRUMP meme coin had surpassed Dogecoin (DOGE), exceeding $59 billion, while DOGE FDV was reported at $55.89 billion. After being listed on multiple exchanges, many people on Twitter even believe that TRUMP's next target is $100 billion.
Due to the overwhelming heat, not only were on-chain transactions congested, but Binance also temporarily suspended SOL withdrawals due to hot wallet depletion, and the SOL withdrawal channel between the Solana network and the BNB Chain was temporarily closed.
It is worth noting that according to the introduction on the official website GetTrumpMemes.com, the initial purchase of TRUMP requires going through Moonshot, which supports traditional payment methods such as Apple Pay, Visa, Mastercard, Venmo, as well as crypto payment methods such as USDC and SOL. The convenience of this payment method has lowered the entry threshold for ordinary investors, further fueling the heat of the TRUMP coin.
With the rise of the token, TRUMP token investors have reaped huge returns from the rapid price increase. According to on-chain analyst Yuyin's monitoring, the whale @XXAntiWar has already made a profit of $10.19 million on $TRUMP. The 10th largest holding address used 61,205 SOL ($14.18M) to purchase 1.271 million $TRUMP at $11.15, and has not sold a single one. The floating profit has reached $21.41 million (+151%). There are many other active investors on the chain who have reaped huge returns, as shown in the article "Who are the ones who have made millions of dollars in profits on TRUMP? The winning KOLs and the disappointed ETH Maxis".
TRUMP is not a MEME coin released on Punp.fun, but has coordinated with Moonshot and Jupiter in advance, and was certified and listed in a timely manner. The heat of TRUMP trading has also quickly boosted the Solana ecosystem. Decentralized exchange (DEX) platforms like Jupiter, Raydium, and Meteora, as well as Moonshot, have risen to become top financial apps on the US Apple App Store, indicating they have attracted over 400,000 new users within 24 hours. In addition, OKX Web3 and GMGN, among other on-chain tools, have also benefited from this surge in traffic.
On January 19, the price of SOL broke through $290, setting a new historical high, and the trading volume and activity of Solana ecosystem-related platforms surged sharply. According to data from @adam_tehc's dashboard, on the day TRUMP was hot, the on-chain MEME trading tool GMGN had about $153 million in Solana chain trading volume on January 18, capturing $1.52 million in fees, both setting new highs. As of the morning of January 19, GMGN had cumulatively captured over $34.6 million in fees. The hot performance of the TRUMP coin has further fueled the rise of the Solana ecosystem, with many users flocking to the Solana chain for trading and investment.
At the same time, some crypto users have expressed their views on the DEX trading experience: the on-chain era has just begun, and CEXs will gradually rely on the on-chain community to maintain their survival and development. This transformation is expected to be completed in the current bull market and may accelerate during the Trump presidency. As the market advantage of CEXs gradually shrinks, the importance of on-chain activities is becoming increasingly prominent. The real market winners will no longer be those who rely on traditional resources, but those who can stand out through on-chain data analysis and strategies. This disruptive force will trigger huge changes in various fields, driving the transformation of the market pattern.
In fact, facing such enthusiasm, CEXs are also chasing after it. On January 19, OKX, Coinbase, and Binance all launched TRUMP, and pushed the price of TRUMP to $80.
Trump's personal net worth has increased, and his inauguration ceremony has attracted more attention
Affected by the TRUMP craze, according to NFT Floor data, as of the afternoon of January 19, the floor price of the Trump NFT series Trump Digital Trading Cards has increased by 346% in 7 days, with a trading volume of $2.81 million in 7 days, an increase of 38,218%.
According to the official website of the TRUMP token, CIC Digital LLC and Fight Fight Fight LLC, subsidiaries of the Trump Group, jointly hold 80% of the circulating tokens, i.e. 800 million TRUMP. It is expected that the circulation will increase to 1 billion in the next three years. This means that as the token price rises, the owners will see significant returns. CIC Digital LLC has already started selling a series of other products, such as Trump-branded sneakers, perfumes, and digital trading cards.
The website does not mention who the specific beneficiaries of these profits will be. Due to the restrictions of the three-year unlocking plan, they cannot sell all their held tokens at once.
Arkham Intelligence pointed out on X that if CIC Digital LLC and Fight Fight LLC (which together own 80% of the TRUMP supply) actually belong to him, Donald Trump's net worth has increased by $22 billion overnight. Forbes estimates that his net worth as of November 2024 when he is elected president will be $5.6 billion. If this is accurate, then the increase in memecoin holdings will increase his assets by 5 times.
It is worth mentioning that Trump's son Eric Trump expressed support for the TRUMP coin on social media. "I am very proud of our continued achievements in the crypto space. $Trump is currently the hottest digital meme on Earth, and I truly believe that WorldLibertyFi will revolutionize DeFi/Cefi and become the finance of the future. We're just getting started!"
Behind this event, the issuance of TRUMP coins is not a simple cryptocurrency project, but a re-monetization of Trump's personal brand. Trump has always been known for his ability to link his personal brand to various business projects, from Trump University to Trump Hotels, and now to digital trading cards (NFTs). The TRUMP coin launched this time actually continues this operating model of the Trump brand. The difference is that this time it uses cryptocurrency as a medium, which gives this event an extraordinary capital attraction.
The crypto market sentiment is high, but there is also uncertainty about the evolution of the pattern
A day after the coin was issued, this event has already sparked widespread moral controversy. Crypto journalist Coffeezilla criticized Trump's release of the TRUMP coin, listing several key points.
- Launching Trump's memecoin just two days before becoming president is a despicable act
- The new SEC/DOJ policy guarantees that there will be no prosecution
- 80% of the tokens are distributed to insiders during the president's term
- Most of the losers will be MAGA supporters who are not crypto natives
- It should have been a crime, but now it seems that crime is legal?
Nick Tomaino, founder of 1confirmation, interpreted the Trump TRUMP event: the transition from the Biden anti-crypto era to the Trump era is great. Trump owns 80% of the TRUMP coins and launched them just hours before the inauguration, which is predatory, and many people may be harmed. Trump should have airdropped to the public instead of using this to enrich himself or his team. Currently, it looks like an FTX token.
In addition, the way TRUMP coins are issued raises questions about whether there are conflicts of interest. Currently, Trump-related products include the DeFi project World Liberty Financial, golf clubs and resorts, hotels and real estate, a listed media company, royalty-bearing sneakers, NFTs, etc., all of which pose risks of illegal conflicts of interest.
Qiao WANG, founder of Alliance DAO, criticized that it's cool for the president to fairly launch a meme coin, and he fully supports it; but launching a coin with 80% of the supply provided to insiders completely changes its nature, which is the textbook definition of fraud.
Through the issuance of TRUMP coins, Trump has theoretically quickly accumulated a huge fortune, which has also attracted the attention of regulatory agencies. According to Bloomberg, multiple institutions believe that Trump's issuance of the Meme coin TRUMP is unethical. Danielle Brian, executive director of the nonpartisan government oversight project (Project on Government Oversight), said that memecoins are usually unrelated to any underlying business, and therefore have a high speculative nature for investors, while potentially bringing huge profits to the founders, further crossing the line. Other groups expressing concerns include the nonprofit Campaign Legal Center and the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
Crypto industry veteran Arthur Hayes commented: This is the launch of the political memecoin market. Any politician who is not afraid of public opinion will launch their own memecoin. The economics of these tokens is fugazi (note: a derogatory term, fake stuff), but this "shit" will develop into a $100 billion market.
However, venture capitalist Chris Burniske expressed a positive attitude, saying that he is uncomfortable with the token distribution, but sees its huge potential for future innovation, and that it is similar to the impact of the "The DAO movement" on the ICO craze in 2016.
Of course, TRUMP has successfully brought new blood and new users to the crypto market. Overall, the rapid appreciation of TRUMP coins and the operations behind it have not only quickly increased Trump's personal wealth, but also focused the attention of the crypto market on this new meme coin that interweaves politics and crypto. As the market continues to evolve, the TRUMP coin event may also become an important milestone in the evolution of the crypto industry pattern, reminding us that while chasing quick returns, we also need to carefully face market risks and moral considerations. How the crypto industry will develop in the future, we can foresee that the balance between innovation and regulation will be a core issue worth watching in the coming years.
