Source: Feng Lun Feng Ma Niu
At 12 noon Eastern Time on January 20, Trump completed the oath of office and officially became the 47th President of the United States. Although the actual inauguration ceremony was just taking place, the Trump family's celebration had already begun several days earlier.
On the morning of January 18 at 10 am, Trump announced on social media the issuance of the virtual currency "TRUMP". In less than 30 minutes after the launch, the market value of the TRUMP token had already exceeded $800 million.
On the evening of January 18, Trump and his family watched a grand fireworks display, which was one of the four-day inauguration celebration events. According to US media reports, in the name of the inauguration ceremony, Trump's team has raised more than $170 million, and it is expected that the fundraising will exceed $200 million by the end of the ceremony.
It is worth mentioning that among the world's top ten billionaires, five attended Trump's inauguration ceremony, including Musk, Bezos, Zuckerberg, Pichai (Google CEO), Bernard Arnault (LVMH President), Cook (Apple CEO) and Ambani (India's richest man).
The Hill reported that at the ceremony site, tech giants, billionaires and their spouses sat in the front row, while some US state governors and politicians were downgraded to the back row or even the side venue.
The Trump 2.0 era has begun, and the characteristics of grasping power and wealth can be seen from the issuance of TRUMP coins and the inauguration ceremony. Today, I will share with you the special significance of Trump issuing "air coins" besides making money.
Source: Phoenix Finance
On January 18, crypto executives and enthusiasts dressed in tailcoats and floor-length gowns flocked to the Andrew Mellon Auditorium in Washington, ready to celebrate the inauguration of Donald Trump, a leader who has promised to be the most crypto-friendly president in US history.
"The reign of terror over crypto is over," shouted David Sachs, a venture capitalist appointed as Trump's crypto czar.
How friendly can the president be to crypto? On the same day, Trump posted on his social media account, announcing the launch of his personal MEME coin TRUMP, and users need to visit the website "gettrumpmemes.com" to obtain the MEME token, which is claimed to be the only "official Trump MEME coin".
The TRUMP coin has undoubtedly brought Trump huge economic benefits. CoinGecko data shows that the TRUMP coin started trading at an opening price of $0.1824, and as of 3 pm Beijing time on January 21, the token price has exceeded $30, with a market value of over $7 billion.
The president's involvement in "issuing coins" has immediately drawn criticism. One of the main controversies is that the "GetTrumpMemes.com" website shows that 80% of the token supply is owned by Fight Fight Fight and CIC Digital, affiliates of the Trump Group.
On paper, Trump-related entities may have unexpectedly gained billions of dollars.
Analysts believe that Trump's move blurs the boundaries between government roles and business interests, and the essence is to use the president's international influence to profit. But looking at Trump's operations such as "making America the global crypto capital", his intentions go far beyond that, and crypto may be endowed with the mission of defending the US dollar hegemony.
1. The President "Issues Coins" and Brings in Billions
"It's time to celebrate our victory! Join my 'Trump Community' and get your TRUMP tokens. Go to gettrumpmemes.com. Have fun!"
On the eve of returning to the White House, Trump seems to have ignited a frenzy in the crypto market with a single post.
"This is absolutely crazy," said Jordan Libowitz, vice president of communications at the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a non-profit organization. "For decades, we've seen presidents-elect take time before their inaugurations to distance themselves from their financial interests to show they have no conflicts of interest, and now we see a president-elect launching a new business venture on the weekend before his inauguration and promising to deregulate the industry... He's doing this solely to brazenly profit off his presidency."
The TRUMP coin was issued on the Solana blockchain and is meant to commemorate Trump's iconic "FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT" gesture after surviving a shooting attack on July 13, 2024. The total supply of TRUMP coins is 1 billion, but only 200 million will be initially circulated, with the remaining 800 million to be gradually unlocked over the next 3 years.
The token website states that GetTrumpMemes aims to express support and participation in the ideals and beliefs embodied by the "TRUMP" symbol and related artworks, and is not intended to be an investment opportunity, investment contract, or the subject of any type of security.
GetTrumpMemes is not involved in politics and is not related to any political campaign or any political office or government agency.
However, the website's introduction now seems quite ironic after Trump's "one post, trillion" hype.
The token will bring significant conflicts of interest to the newly inaugurated president, and foreign governments or companies seeking to influence Washington may be inclined to purchase the token to curry favor with Trump.
After the TRUMP coin was issued, Trump's eldest son, Eric Trump, posted on the X platform to "stand up" for the token, calling it "a family initiative to enter a new emerging business." His remarks have exacerbated the moral concerns raised by the president's involvement in "issuing coins".
Coinbase executive Nick Tomaino stated on social media: "Trump owns 80% of the shares and launched it on the eve of the inauguration, this is a predatory act that many people may suffer from."
Hedge fund manager Jim Chanos also commented: "The next four years will be the 'golden age of fraud'."
2. "Making America Great Again" Part
The TRUMP coin is not Trump's first foray into the crypto space. Last year, after winning the election, he and his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump launched a so-called decentralized finance project called "World Freedom Finance".
Over the past year, Trump has been actively courting crypto investors for their funds and votes. According to Politico magazine, crypto companies spent $10 million just on Trump's inauguration ceremony.
In return, after taking office, Trump is set to sign multiple executive orders supporting the crypto industry, including establishing a Bitcoin reserve, ending "de-banking" policies, and nominating several "crypto-friendly" officials to key positions. As previously reported by Bloomberg, the executive order could be issued as early as the day of the presidential inauguration, and Trump will give industry players a voice in his administration. This speculation has now become a reality.
On January 20, after completing the inauguration ceremony, the White House announced the appointment of Republican member Mark Uyeda as acting chairman of the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Uyeda is welcomed by crypto companies, as he expressed disagreement with the SEC's previous strict regulation of cryptocurrencies in an interview with Fox Business Channel, believing that the SEC failed to provide clear rules for crypto companies, leading to unnecessary legal risks that have had a negative impact on the industry's development.
A closer look reveals that this move is also part of Trump's "Make America Great Again" narrative.
It is worth noting that Trump was a crypto skeptic during his first term, but in the 2.0 era, he has transformed into an active advocate of "making America the global crypto capital".
During this year's campaign, Trump has repeatedly stated that he wants to establish a "US-first" crypto strategic reserve. His supporter, Senator Cynthia Lummis, has submitted a bill to replace gold with crypto as the strategic reserve, and has been frantically calling for the US to use crypto to pay off its massive debt in the future.
A major reason for the rapid shift in position is that the Trump administration needs an alternative to maintain the hegemony of the US dollar.
SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication) data shows that as of November 2024, the US dollar's share of the global payment market has dropped to 47.68%, less than 50%. The hegemony of the US dollar is declining, and cryptocurrencies have been given a special mission.
In Trump's 2.0 era, in order to avoid the political fate of being ousted due to stagflation, he hopes to improve fiscal efficiency and total factor productivity through AI, but if AI fails to achieve the expected effect, the monetization of deficits will accelerate the "de-dollarization" process. Over the past two years, gold has become a beneficiary of de-dollarization and has become a favorite of investors.
However, the US government cannot tolerate the undermining of the monetary hegemony of the US dollar, so Trump needs an alternative to maintain the position of the US dollar. This alternative must be something that the United States can control and exert influence on, and cryptocurrencies represented by Bitcoin have ushered in an opportunity.
The essence of currency is credit, and Trump's move is not only the nature of a businessman to profit from it, but also to inject credit into cryptocurrencies.
3. A new political donation from the American financial elite?
Tian Xiaowan, a senior partner at the Beijing Deheng Law Firm, which focuses on cryptocurrencies, said that the TRUMP coin issued by Trump is a MEME coin (meme coin), which is actually to celebrate his victory in the election and establish a community, as for the future direction of the community, the issuance of the MEME coin does not provide a clear direction.
In Tian Xiaowan's view, this type of coin is a community-based currency, which is a type of "air coin". The Dogecoin that Musk has praised many times before also belongs to the category of "air coins". This type of coin has no inherent value, the operation is relatively simple, the technical threshold is low, and anyone can issue it, but social media marketing plays an important role in the issuance of "air coins". Due to Trump's own identity and his appeal on social media, many people have bought it, resulting in a price increase.
It is worth noting that, unlike the endorsement of celebrity entrepreneurs, this time it is the world's first president to issue virtual currency and openly support virtual currency, and Trump has thus become the "cryptocurrency president". While opening up a new world of cryptocurrencies, it has also raised concerns among some people, questioning the president's use of his position to make money.
On January 19, the market's doubts became even stronger after Trump's wife Melania announced the issuance of the "MELANIA" token.
In Tian Xiaowan's view, Trump's issuance of a new coin is not only a positive promotion of the cryptocurrency industry, but on another level, in order to win the continued support of the president for cryptocurrencies, people in the industry are likely to hype and push up the price of the TRUMP token, achieving a win-win situation, which brings great speculative risks. Some speculators use hype to inflate the value and then sell at the market top, harvesting the latecomers.
"This has gone beyond the traditional way of political donations and mutual assistance between American financial elites and political leaders."
Tian Xiaowan said that the US Constitution has many restrictions on the president's power, but to constrain the president's use of his influence to manipulate cryptocurrency prices in the web3.0 world is a new topic.
