Trump unveils meme coin as its value soars

WASHINGTON: US President-elect Donald Trump has launched his own cryptocurrency, aptly called $TRUMP Coin, pushing its market capitalization to several billion dollars on Saturday.

In a message posted on his Truth social platform and X, Trump unveiled the so-called meme coin, which is designed to capitalize on the popularity of a particular figure, movement or viral internet trend.

Meme coins have no economic or transactional value, and are often viewed as a means of speculative trading.

The coin’s official site, which references the July 2024 assassination attempt on the Republican, says that “this Trump meme celebrates a leader who doesn’t back down, no matter the odds.”

In the hours following its overnight launch, the crypto community raised questions about the legitimacy of the $TRUMP coin, and its true connection to the president-elect, with some fearing it was a scam.

But the fact that Trump’s announcements on official social media channels reassured the market, as did the fact that Trump has used CIC Digital LLC, a company behind the project in the past, which sells non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

As of mid-morning Saturday, the market capitalization for $TRUMP was about $6 billion.

Neither Trump nor the company managing the launch, Fight Fight Fight LLC, offered details on how much he made from the initial batch of meme coins.

The coin’s official site said that 200 million meme coins were issued, with Fight Fight Fight saying that another 800 million would be added over the next three years.

At the current rate, the coins that are not yet on the market would be worth about $24 billion.

Initially opposed to cryptocurrency, Trump took a bullish stance during his 2024 presidential campaign, championing the concept and promising to develop the sector, particularly by easing regulations.

Prior to this new announcement, traders affiliated with Trump had launched a crypto platform called World Liberty Financial online in October.