Trump’s meme coin tops $10-billion market cap as he takes office

PARIS/SINGAPORE: Donald Trump’s newly created cryptocurrency soared on Monday to more than $10 billion in market value as he took office for his second term as US president, drawing in billions in trading volume, while bitcoin’s price hit a record high hours ahead of Trump’s return to the White House.

Launched on Friday, Trump’s “meme coin”, also known as $TRUMP, soared from less than $10 on Saturday morning to as high as $74.59 before giving up some of its huge rise on Monday. Trump launched the digital token with branding including an image from his attempted assassination in July, expanding his cryptocurrency interests that already include World Liberty Financial.

Melania Trump launched her own coin, $MELANIA, on Sunday that rallied in price to take its market cap well beyond $1 billion. Four-fifths of Trump coin’s tokens are owned by CIC Digital, an affiliate of Trump’s business, and another entity called Fight, Fight, Fight, according to its website. It says the coins are “an expression of support for, and engagement with, the ideals and beliefs embodied by the symbol ‘$TRUMP’” and are not an investment or security.

The launch of the coins caused surprise and concern even among those in the cryptocurrency industry. “While it’s tempting to dismiss this as just another Trump spectacle, the launch of the official Trump token opens up a Pandora’s box of ethical and regulatory questions,” said Justin D’Anethan, an independent crypto analyst based in Hong Kong.

The Trump Organisation said this month the president would hand daily management of his multi-billion-dollar real estate, hotel, golf, media and licensing portfolio to his children when he entered the White House.

By 1230 EST (1730 GMT), Trump’s coin was trading at $45.21, giving it a market cap of just over $9 billion, according to CoinMarketCap, which ranked it as the 19th biggest cryptocurrency. Twenty-four-hour trading volume was nearly $40 billion, CoinMarketCap data showed.