A cartoon image of US President-elect Donald Trump holding a Bitcoin token to mark the cryptocurrency reaching over $100,000 is on display at a Coinhero store in Hong Kong, China, Thursday, December 5, 2024.
Paul Yeung | Bloomberg | Getty Images
According to Bernstein, President Trump’s return to the White House is expected to usher in a golden, albeit chaotic, age of crypto in the United States.
This weekend, Trump flipped a coin, “Official Trump” which reached a market capitalization of $73 billion in two days before a 50% pullback. The move comes just as Gary Gensler, an opponent of crypto startups in his strict approach as head of the Securities and Exchange Commission, left his post.
A day after the Trump coin was revealed, First Lady Melania Trump launched your own coin with less fanfare. These spectacular revelations sparked widespread criticism on social media, fearing that they would give a bad image to an industry that has fought to distance itself from its beginnings. Initial Coin Offering (ICO) Bubbles, Non-fungible token (NFT) boom And celebrity crypto endorsements this led to losses for investors.
This could be the short-term price to pay for a long-term goal of cryptocurrency innovation in a permissive regulatory environment, said Bernstein analysts led by Gautam Chhugani.
“Whichever way you look at it, we believe a chaotic new era of crypto has arrived,” he said in a note published Monday. “The US president has his own coin. Our view would be to view the event as a signal that a new era of crypto regulation is here to stay and invest in the most valuable parts of the ecosystem.”
“Given that the previous US regulatory regime aimed to crack down on cryptocurrency builders and take enforcement action on token-related activities, the President’s token launch is a huge social signal to US builders: build to United States and don’t be shy to throw chips,” Chhugani added.
The Trump meme coin was recently trading at around $38.41 on Tuesday, almost 50% of its high.
A warning about the Trump coin website says it is “intended to function as an expression of support for and commitment to the ideals and beliefs embodied in the “$TRUMP” symbol and associated artwork, and…not intended to be, or to be the subject of an investment opportunity, investment contract or security of any type.
There are 200 million coins initially available, which will grow to 1 billion over three years, according to the website. Only 10% is publicly available, another 10% is held in cash, and 80% is for “creators and CIC Digital,” a subsidiary of The Trump Organization.
The meme coin is the latest fundraising effort from the Trump team – which also launched two NFT collections – Trump Digital Trading Cards on the Polygon blockchain and digital trading cards Trump Bitcoin on the Bitcoin blockchain – as well as the DeFi World Liberty Financial platform on Ethereum.