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The total value of a memecoin in circulation backed by Donald Trump has reached more than $13 billion, sparking accusations that the incoming president is exploiting the enthusiasm of his supporters for financial gain.
Since its launch Friday evening, the $TRUMP cryptocurrency — in which Trump’s family business owns a direct stake — has risen from about $6 to $67, bringing the value of coins in circulation to about $13.2 billion. according to data from Coinbase on Sunday. .
The token’s rapidly rising value has already made it one of the crypto market’s biggest “memecoins,” or tokens that represent viral moments on the Internet. Originally developed as an insider industry joke, memecoins have no business model or cash flow.
The number of new memecoins and their value have increased since Trump’s election victory in November. Industry executives and traders are betting that the new administration will adopt a friendlier approach to cryptoassets.
Trump’s coin was launched Friday evening on his Truth Social website shortly after a gala in Washington for crypto executives and politicians to celebrate his inauguration, which takes place on Monday. The accompanying website shows a picture of Trump with his fist up and describes the coin as “the only official Trump meme.”
About 80 percent of the tokens will be held by CIC Digital, which is affiliated with the Trump Organization, and a CIC-owned business called Fight Fight Fight LLC, according to the token’s website — a reference to the assassination attempt. The last Trump. summer.
The tokens held by insiders will begin unlocking for sale over the next three to 12 months and will be available for sale during Trump’s four-year term.
“To own 80 percent of Trump and the launch time hours before the inauguration is predatory and a lot of them are probably going to be hurt by that,” said Nick Tomaino, a venture capitalist, at X.
The launch surprised many in the crypto market, but Binance, Coinbase and Kraken, three of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, have since announced plans to trade the Trump coin on their markets.
The Trump family has had a growing interest in cryptocurrencies. The US president-elect and his three sons have promoted World Liberty Financial, a crypto venture created by his longtime business partners and others, while Trump’s social media company tried unsuccessfully to buy Bakkt, a cryptocurrency trading site.
On Saturday, Eric Trump described the Trump coin as the “hottest digital meme on earth” and said World Freedom had “just begun.”
Anthony Scaramucci, Trump’s former communications director turned critic, was also criticized at the launch. “Trump’s memecoin stuff is bad for the (crypto) industry. Do not deceive yourself”, he wrote in X.
A spokesman for the Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Jonathan Bixby, a crypto entrepreneur, said Trump’s memecoin is likely to be the “opening weapon in what’s called a ‘banana zone,'” a crypto-trading term in which prices can suddenly rise.
“It lends legitimacy to these assets and invites any celebrity to come back and start promoting. These next couple of months are going to be wild.”
The price of Solana, the blockchain used by the Trump coin and many other memecoins, hit a record high of $295 on Sunday. The US regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission, will make a decision in the coming months on whether to allow US stock market funds to invest directly in Solana.
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