Jan 19, 2025
by Jon Christian
Ron Elkman/Sports Imagery/ Getty Images
Meme Streak
President-elect Donald Trump may have spent his career playing the role of a wheeler-dealer businessman, but his actual financial track record has always been dodgy — he inherited a vast sum, declared bankruptcy at ventures ranging from a hotel to a casino, and estimates of his wealth have been a frequent topic of speculation for decades.
Underscoring that tenuous real-world performance, it appears that Trump has now accumulated vastly more wealth in the past 24 hours than he did in his entire life previously. Yes, you're reading that correctly: since launching a meme coin called $TRUMP on the eve of his second presidency about a day ago, Axios estimated earlier today that 89 percent of Trump's net worth was tied up in the cryptocurrency, putting it north of $60 billion and making him — on paper, at least — one of the world's 25 richest people.
In a preview of Trump's certain-to-be-chaotic adventures in the world of blockchain, though, the coin subsequently crashed by about 50 percent — meaning it still represents the overwhelming majority of Trump's worth, but makes him substantially poorer than he was this morning.
Wallet Inspector
We should point out that none of this is remotely fair in any normal sense of the word; the only reason for $TRUMP's explosive growth is the fact that Trump is about to be sworn in as the 47th president of the United States.
In that position, two things will be true. First, Trump will have immense regulatory power over the crypto industry; after slamming the tech for years, he reversed his position when it became financially convenient to him, and has now nominated crypto advocate Paul Atkins as head of the Securities and Exchange Commission. And second, any wealthy people who need a favor from Trump will now be able to buy caches of his meme coin to earn influence.
Add it all up, and the whole thing reeks to high heaven. Trump's crypto isn't shooting up in value because of any intrinsic technical or business acumen; it's doing so because investors believe — rightly, in all likelihood — that it will be a lucrative conflict of interest over the next four years.
ByHT News Desk |
Jan 20, 2025
Since their launch, both $TRUMP and $MELANIA meme coins have gained significant attention.
US President-elect Donald Trump launched a meme coin by the name of $Trump on Friday, just days ahead of his inauguration scheduled for Monday.
His wife Melania Trump followed suit on Sunday, launching a meme coin $MELANIA, ahead of her return to the White House for the second time as the First Lady of the United States.
Donald Trump Inauguration Live Updates here.
Since their launch, both $TRUMP and $MELANIA meme coins have gained significant attention. $Trump has gained a market cap of $8.87 billion, while Melania’s coin has a market cap of $1.19 billion.
According to CoinGecko, Donald Trump's meme coin is currently the 22nd most valuable cryptocurrency in the world while Melania's coin stands as the 94th most valuable.
The in-coming US President has promised that his administration would be a crypto friendly one. Many big names from the crypto industry have been named in various roles in the administration.
So what exactly are meme coins and how do they work?
Meme coins are a form of cryptocurrency or digital asset that take their inspiration from internet memes and trends. They usually get their names from characters, animals, or individuals popular on social media. Meme coins are heavily influenced by internet memes, pop culture, online hype, and social media trends, and just like any other form of cryptocurrency, they are highly volatile and speculative.
These coins, like any other cryptocurrency, are created using blockchain technology. The blockchain technology stores and shares data across a network and the tokens are hexadecimal numbers stored in the blockchain that facilitate transactions. The images of the coin are inspired by internet memes, making them attractive among investors. For ownership purposes, they have private keys.
Dogecoin, backed by Trump ally Elon Musk, and Shiba Inu are some popular meme coins.
Are meme coins better than other cryptos?
Advantages:Meme coins are an attractive and fun asset that can be used to learn about cryptocurrency and blockchain technology.
Meme coins are often less expensive than most other cryptocurrencies. Thus, they become more
Disadvantages:Meme coins are highly volatile and work on speculations and trends. Therefore, they are quite risky for investors.
Meme coins are digital assets without intrinsic value. They have no uses beyond tokens for trading or speculation.
Due to the lack of enough regulation on meme coins worldwide, the risk of potential scams is very high.
US: Melania Trump launches her cryptocurrency
20/01/25
Former US First Lady Melania Trump has introduced her own cryptocurrency, $MELANIA, just days after her husband Donald Trump launched his $TRUMP meme coin, CNN reported.
In a social media announcement on Sunday, Melania unveiled her digital currency, writing, “The Official Melania Meme is live! You can buy $MELANIA now. https://melaniameme.com.” The launch coincided with a dip in the value of Donald Trump’s cryptocurrency, which had been trading strongly since its debut two days earlier.
Meme coins, known for their volatility and lack of intrinsic value, are cryptocurrencies inspired by internet culture. While their prices can fluctuate dramatically, they often gain traction through community engagement and popularity.
Donald Trump, who previously criticized Bitcoin as being “based on thin air,” had embraced meme coins with the release of $TRUMP. In his launch post on Friday, Trump declared, “My NEW Official Trump Meme is HERE! It’s time to celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING! Join my very special Trump Community. GET YOUR $TRUMP NOW. Go to http://gettrumpmemes.com — Have Fun!”
Both $TRUMP and $MELANIA are trading on the Solana blockchain. $TRUMP initially saw a surge in value, reaching over USD 70 by Sunday afternoon before falling to USD 40 following Melania’s launch. As of early Monday, $TRUMP had recovered to around USD 60, while $MELANIA was trading at just over USD 12, according to CoinGecko.
The Trump coin has gained significant traction in the cryptocurrency market. With a circulating supply of 200 million coins, its market capitalization is currently capped at USD 13 billion, according to CoinMarketCap. Over the next three years, the total supply of $TRUMP is expected to reach 1 billion coins.
Both cryptocurrencies’ websites emphasize that the coins are meant to represent and engage with their respective brands’ values rather than serve as traditional investment opportunities. They also disclaim any political affiliation. However, 80% of the $TRUMP coin supply is held by Trump Organization-affiliated entities, CIC Digital and Fight Fight Fight LLC, which are bound by a three-year unlocking schedule, restricting them from selling their holdings all at once.
The $TRUMP website promotes the coin as “the only official Trump meme,” branding it as a celebration of a leader who “doesn’t back down, no matter the odds.” Meanwhile, Melania Trump’s foray into cryptocurrency adds a competitive edge to the meme coin market as both coins vie for attention and engagement.
Donald Trump’s embrace of cryptocurrency marks a significant shift in his stance. In July 2024, he addressed crypto’s largest convention and appointed Howard Lutnick, a cryptocurrency advocate and supporter of Tether, to lead the US Commerce Department. This move signaled the former president’s growing support for the digital asset sector.
(Inputs from ANI)
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump issued an executive order Thursday effectively banning the establishment of a central bank digital currency, in a move long supported by Congressional Republicans.
Trump's order would, he said, protect Americans from the "risks" of central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, "which threaten the stability of the financial system, individual privacy, and the sovereignty of the United States."
This included the prohibition of "the establishment, issuance, circulation, and use of a CBDC within the jurisdiction of the United States," he added.
CBDCs, also known as "digital dollars," could in theory be issued by the Federal Reserve and be interchangeable with physical dollars, giving the US central bank control over the supply of the virtual currency, and guaranteeing its value.
Former president Joe Biden instructed the Fed to look into the creation of a CBDC, whose supporters note its potential use as a means of bringing people without bank accounts into the US financial system, and in tracing and tackling criminal activity.
But its opponents, which have long included many Republicans in Congress, have criticized CBDCs, arguing that they could threaten people's privacy, and potentially undermine the banking system by reducing people's incentives to bank privately.
The Fed has conducted research on CBDCs, but has made clear on multiple occasions that it currently has no plans to put one into circulation.
"People don't need to worry about a central bank digital currency," Fed chair Jerome Powell told the US Senate Banking Committee last year. "Nothing like that is remotely close to happening anytime soon."
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