President Donald Trump may have left digital asset players a little disappointed after failing to sign any. cryptographic decrees when he was sworn in again on Monday. But Trump and his associates signaled additional support for the industry with the launch of two new meme coins over the weekend. Bitcoin also hit an all-time high on Inauguration Day.
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Ahead of his inauguration on Monday, Trump launched a new Solana-based cryptocurrency called Official Trump, or $TRUMP, on Friday. He calls it the “official coin” of the Trump team.
Solana is a blockchain that uses a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism similar to Ethereum. It opened to the public in 2020.
“Trump showed the world what a leader is made of. His strength and courage sparked a movement that became the most memorable meme of the century,” the website reads. “Now you can reclaim your piece of history. This Trump Meme celebrates a leader who doesn’t back down, no matter the odds. Join the Trump community – we fight for what matters.”
The meme piece includes an image of President Trump raising his fist with the words “fight, fight, fight” in the background, referencing the July 2024 assassination attempt.
Distribution of the Trump coin
The Trump Organization owns 80% of the meme coin through its subsidiaries CIC Digital LLC and an associated entity called Fight Fight Fight LLC, with their holdings to be released over a three-year period, according to the website. The Trump crypto launched with 200 million tokens immediately available. The supply is expected to reach 1 billion over three years.
Only 10% of the total supply was allocated to public distribution, and a further 10% to liquidity. CIC Digital and Trump coin creators will be able to begin acquiring their holdings after three months, according to the website.
The Trump team also selected cryptocurrency marketplace Moonshot as the first exchange to list Trump coin. Moonshot itself launched six months ago. The exchange reported processing nearly $400 million in volume within the first 12 hours of listing $TRUMP. Other exchanges, including Coinbase (COIN) and Binance, quickly followed suit and announced that they would also list the Trump coin.
The Trump coin launched at around $6.50 per token, according to CoinMarketCap, then peaked at $75.35 on Sunday. The meme coin quickly fell after the launch of Melania’s own cryptocurrency. Trump coin is currently trading around $37 with a market cap of $7.65 billion.
A piece for Melania
Separately, President Trump’s wife, Melania, launched her own coin, $MELANIA, on Solana on Sunday afternoon. Like the Trump token, the Melania token is not intended to be an investment.
“Melania memes are digital collectibles intended to function as an expression of support and commitment to the values embodied by the MELANIA symbol,” the website states.
Of the Melania token, only 15% is allocated for public distribution. About 10% of the token distribution is for liquidity, and 20% for community and treasury. Team acquisitions represent 35% of token distribution.
The Melania meme coin has an initial lock period of 30 days. After day 30, 10% of the team allocation will be released, which represents 3% of the total supply. The remaining 90% of tokens are acquired linearly from the second to the 13th month. Full acquisition will be completed after the 13th month.
The Melania coin launched at around $7 on Sunday and peaked at $13.73 on Monday. The token fell to around $4.30 on Tuesday morning.
Liberty Global Financial
Elsewhere, Trump’s other crypto project, World Liberty Financial, made a series of digital asset purchases on Monday, according to Donald Trump Jr..
World Liberty Financial is purchasing $47 million worth of Ethereum and wrapped bitcoin, which are bitcoins that have been converted for use on the Ethereum network. He also purchased $4.7 million worth of Aave (AAVE), Chainlink (LINK), Tron (TRX), and Ethena (ENA).
World Liberty also announced on Monday that it had sold 20% of its WLFI tokens. Reports indicate that World Liberty generated $300 million from the sale after increasing the price of the token to 5 cents. It plans to raise an additional $250 million through an extended sale.
World Liberty launched its presale in October at 1.5 cents, which was not available to U.S. retail investors at the time.
The Donald Trump sentiment indicator is falling. The $TRUMP coin could be the reason.
Crypto Industry Reacts to Trump Coin
Crypto executives had mixed reactions, ranging from praise to concerns about the loss of trust within the industry.
Yat Siu, president of blockchain gaming and non-fungible token company Animoca Brands, written online: “My suggestion to you and the Trump Coin team is to consider carefully supporting important foundations and charitable causes with $TRUMP. How the token is managed will have a ripple effect on the trust and reputation of the entire crypto and Web3 industry.”
“Creating a bunch of personal memecoins opens the door to secret foreign buyers trying to influence our leaders,” Nic Carter, general partner at blockchain startup and venture capital firm Castle Island Ventures. written online. “We once had an informal rule that presidents would not create or run businesses that might pose a conflict of interest. Creating a bunch of memecoins and defi protocols opens up the possibility of widespread violations of the clause on emoluments.”
Norm Eisen, a former White House adviser who served on the board of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, told the Washington Post there was a major conflict of interest.
“He is launching a major new multi-billion dollar business in the booming crypto industry, where he has the deepest conflict of interest between (what) he seeks to gain and his duties to regulate this industry,” Eisen said.
Despite not signing any crypto-related executive orders on Monday, Trump is still expected to announce major changes to the industry in his first 100 days. Some orders under consideration include creating a strategic bitcoin reserve and crypto council, creating a clearer regulatory framework, and changing crypto banking policies.
Other crypto news
In addition to Trump’s launches, Tuesday was a busy day when it came to crypto news.
Bitcoin miner Riot (RIOT) announced that it will halt its previously announced Phase II bitcoin mining expansion at its Corsicana facility as it explores opportunities in artificial intelligence and high-performance computing. The facility has approximately 600 megawatts of remaining electrical capacity, which Riot is evaluating for use by the AI.
This is Riot’s first step into AI as other Bitcoin miners seek to do so. diversify their sources of income.
In the meantime, Bank of America (BAC) Chief Executive Brian Moynihan said Tuesday the banking industry will embrace crypto if regulators allow it.
“If the rules come into effect and make this a real thing that you can actually do business with, you will find that the banking system will be hit hard on the transactional side,” Moynihan said in an interview with the World Economic Forum. , reported by CNBC.
Bitcoin Price Action
Bitcoin traded around $104,400 early Tuesday and is up nearly 12% so far this year. The cryptocurrency hit a record high of $109,225 on Monday before falling.
Analysts say investors may have used the opportunity to lock in gains.
“The pullback looks like little more than profit-taking after its recent rally, with traders balancing optimism about growing institutional adoption with caution about regulatory uncertainties,” wrote Matt Britzman, an analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, in a note reported by Barron’s. “Despite the decline, sentiment remains strong as the market looks ahead to more favorable conditions with Trump taking office.”
Ethereum was trading around $3,300 on Tuesday morning, still below its December 2024 high of $4,106. Ethereum peaked at $4,891 in 2021.
Solana hit a record high of $258.44 on Sunday after the Trump coin launched, but fell to $242 on Tuesday.
Coinbase stock rose more than 1% Tuesday morning. Riot shares jumped 4.3%.
You can follow Harrison Miller for more stock news and updates on X/Twitter. @IBD_Harrison
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