Trump family new crypto token increased in just two days to become one of the most profitable digital currencies in the world, creating the potential for billions of dollars to pay the family but also to wind storm of questions about the conflict of the newly established business.
President-elect Donald J. Trump announced the launch of a new token, the $Trump, on Friday night as hundreds gathered for a crypto-inspired launch party not far from the White House.
Business praised by some as an indication of how digital money is currently going in the United States.
But market analysts and even some long-time crypto traders say that the new digital coin, called memecoin, could also emerge as a turning point in the history of the crypto market and the potential risks it poses to the financial sector. Memecoins are a type of cryptocurrency tied to an online joke or celebrity mascot.
“If people want to gamble, I don’t,” said Lee Reiners, a former Federal Reserve attorney who is now a professor at Duke University’s international economics center. care,” said Lee Reiners. “What I worry about is when this crypto bubble bursts – and it will burst – it will end up affecting people across the economy even if they don’t have direct investment in crypto. And the new coin this makes it bad.”
Eric Trump, one of Mr. Trump’s sons, who helped create the sign, declined to comment Sunday.
At least on paper, Trump tokens in the market since Sunday have a total market value of nearly $13 billion, and a total of $29 billion worth of transactions occurred in just two days. That calculation is based on nearly $64 worth of each of the 200 million tokens issued, according to that CoinGeckobusiness information tracker.
This shows, according to Sunday, that Mr. Trump’s coin is the 19th most valuable form of cryptocurrency in the world, CoinGecko tally shows.
Trump’s allies appear to be in control another 800 million tokens which, at least hypothetically, could be worth up to $51 billion – all of which would make Mr. the richest people in the world.
Before the coin starts trading, Forbes has name Mr. Trump’s net worth is $6.7 billion, mostly from the Trump Media and Technology Group, another estimate that the Trump family helped start, which works. money-loss social media platform Truth Social.
But Mr. Trump’s newly discovered crypto currency will likely vaporize if he moves to sell his coins. New cryptocurrencies often shoot in value, making billionaire traders on paper, only to collapse when the coins holders start selling.
That is especially true of memecoins, which are prone to rapid changes in value as their location on the internet changes. Prices can also vary between platforms, making it difficult to pin down a coin’s true value. In 2021, one of the first memecoins, a dog-based digital currency called Dogecoin, minted millionaires overnightjust lose as much as possible.
The launch of the Trump memecoin caught many of the industry’s power brokers off guard.
When the president-elect announced the coin on Friday night, hundreds of the most powerful executives in the industry drank wine and sang along to Snoop Dogg at the meeting in Washington called Crypto Ball. (A manager who attended the ball said he “whispers” that the business in the coin started when the business leaders “didn’t pay attention,” making it difficult for them to earn money. )
However, some merchants have already received cash.
Within a minute of the coin’s launch, a crypto trader raised a $1 million position, according to one analysis of public market data from crypto data company Bubblemaps, which published its findings on social media.
Coin prices skyrocketed, and the trader’s account quickly sold out assets worth $20 million. The analysis has sparked speculation in the media about whether an insider with prior knowledge of the coin made a quick profit. (Bubblemaps did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)
Conor Grogan, CEO of Coinbase, one of the largest exchanges in the United States, estimate in a press release saying that as of Saturday, the Trump team had made $58 million in value from all $Trump sales — even without selling its own collection of tokens to the market open.
It also appears that the Trump team will be transferring some of his tokens to a foreign business called Bybit, that not authorized to do business in the United States, Mr. Grogan noted. Bybit has recently focused on the management of the global cryptocurrency the management.
The coin Trump announced immediately created new opportunities for leaders, crypto traders and even large companies to align with the Trump administration.
Who can turn memecoin for a few dollars, and most of the tokens are not available to buy and sell on digital currency markets, which usually focus on larger coins. But within a few hours of Mr. Trump’s announcement, crypto exchange Kraken started issuing new coins, too Coinbasethe largest exchange in the United States, said it will still write it.
Coinbase and Kraken are fighting lawsuits filed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which led to widespread crackdowns on crypto companies during the Biden administration. The companies are among a large group of crypto companies that stand to benefit from the easier approach to technology management that Mr. Trump has promised on the campaign trail.
Once a crypto skeptic, Mr. Trump embraced the digital currency industry last year, speaking at a major economic conference where he promised to turn the United States into the “crypto capital of the world.”
After winning the election, Mr. Trump has made several moves that are seen as beneficial to the crypto market. He select one to lead the SEC who has a track record of working well with crypto companies, and got business entrepreneur David Sacks, a digital currency enthusiast, to oversee crypto and intellectual property rights for him leaders.
At the Crypto Ball, Mr. Sacks announced from the stage that “the reign of fear against crypto is over, and a new initiative in America for crypto has just begun,” according to the video. posted on social media by Eric Trump.
The President-elect’s family is personally invested in the crypto market even before memecoin launched. In September, he and his sons helped start crypto business, Global Liberty Finance, which also has a digital coin associated with it, WLFI.
Liberty Earth is not directly owned by the Trumps. But Mr. Trump is a supporter of the business, and he gets a cut of the proceeds from the token sale.
For the most part, the crypto market has responded positively to Mr. Trump’s crypto ventures. But some Officials expressed concern this week that the memecoin launch could end up hurting startup investors.
A popular crypto podcaster called it is a “cash grab” that will be “bad for people.” Erik Voorhees, a prominent Bitcoin investor, write on social media that memecoin is “stupid and shameful.”
Yet the Trump family’s embrace of cryptocurrencies shows no sign of slowing.
“It’s time to celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING!” Mr. Trump written on Friday as it announced the birth of the new crypto token. “Join my very special Trump community. Get your $TRUMP now.”