Source: Wall Street Journal

Harvesting the young, still need to see the Trump family?

According to the Global Times report, on January 18, just two days before Trump really took office in the White House, he launched his personal MEME coin "Trump Coin".

The token was an instant hit. CoinGecko data shows that the "Trump Coin" started trading at an opening price of $0.1824, and surged over 15,000% to around $30 within 12 hours, reaching a high of $75.35 (a cumulative increase of over 41,200%) since its launch, with a fully diluted market cap (FDV) approaching $80 billion.

With the hot craze of the "Trump Coin", Trump's wife Melania also seized the opportunity to launch her own cryptocurrency - Melania Coin. On the 20th, Melania announced on social media X that the "Melania Official Sticker Pack" was online, and attached a purchase link.

Traders quickly flooded in, pushing the "Melania Coin" price to break through $5, with an FDV market cap exceeding $5 billion. Similar to the "Trump Coin", the "Melania Coin" is also a MEME coin based on the Solana blockchain, and its value depends on the attention and participation of the community.

Not only the Trump couple, the entire Trump family is busy issuing coins. Autism Capital said the Trump family is really like "Game of Thrones":

Trump has launched his own NFTs.
His son Barron tried to launch his own shitcoin with Shkreli, but was left out.
Trump's other sons Don Jr. and Eric are busy issuing World Liberty Fi and trying to exclude Barron.
Trump launched a Pump fun token when everyone was in CryptoBall.

Melania counterattacked by launching her own coin while Trump was busy with the victory rally.
"This is truly a game of digital currencies".

Netizens joked about the Trump family's coin issuance

The Trump family's coin issuance has had a huge impact on the entire cryptocurrency market, including internal conflicts within the family. After the "Melania Coin" was launched, the Trump Coin plummeted 60% in 30 minutes, Solana fell 20%, and Bitcoin fell 6%.

1.The Trump family, the biggest beneficiaries of the Trump Coin

According to reports, the Trump family holds 80% of the total supply of the Trump Coin through their company. As soon as the Trump Coin was launched, it quickly became the 24th largest cryptocurrency in the world, with a market cap that once exceeded $80 billion, making the Trump family the biggest beneficiaries of this surge.

This also means that if the Trump family engages in any selling behavior, countless investors will be left with nothing.

Nic Carter, the founding partner of the cryptocurrency investment firm Castle Island Ventures, bluntly criticized this move as "extremely absurd" and warned that if investors suffer losses as a result, it will have a negative impact on Trump himself and the entire cryptocurrency industry.

Although Trump had promised during his first term that he would "not make any new deals" while in office, his eldest son Donald Trump Jr. and second son Eric Trump have already begun to venture into the cryptocurrency field and set up their own company, World Liberty Financial.

However, according to an analysis by the blockchain analysis company Arkham, the Trump family has not sold $500 million worth of Trump Coins, but rather holds about $500 million worth of Trump Coin liquidity pools on the blockchain.

The Trump family has withdrawn $20 million in USDC (a stablecoin) from the liquidity pool and sent $92 million worth of Trump Coins to exchanges. Currently, there are about $370 million in USDC in this liquidity pool, which means the Trump family still controls the majority of the funds in the liquidity pool.

2. Profiteering from the presidential identity?

Furthermore, the Trump family's move has also raised questions about whether they are using the soon-to-be-president position to serve their own business interests.

Anthony Scaramucci, the founder of Skybridge Capital, believes that the behavior of the Trump couple is extremely detrimental to the cryptocurrency industry, calling it "self-deceptive" and hinting that deeper corruption may be involved.

Nick Tomaino, the founder of 1confirmation, criticized it as predatory, and many people may be harmed as a result. Trump should airdrop to the public instead of using this to enrich himself or his team.

Ben Meiselas, the co-founder of Meidas Touch, believes that Trump should focus on more pressing matters rather than devoting his energy to launching a MEME coin.

Qiao Wang, the co-founder of AllianceDAO, believes that Trump can announce that the tokens will be used for some fiscal policy, such as buying Greenland, aiding Los Angeles, or upgrading the power grid. If he chooses this path, cryptocurrencies will be imbued with a more positive meaning, seen as the greatest capital formation mechanism in history, and their use will be widely recognized as a beneficial measure for society, ushering in a golden age for cryptocurrencies. However, if Trump chooses to do nothing and simply continue to accumulate wealth for himself through the tokens, this behavior will be seen as criminal.