PARIS/SINGAPORE — President Donald Trump-linked crypto project World Liberty Financial has raised $300 million in token sales, the company said Monday, as a new Trump memecoin also soared to more than 10 billion dollars in market value as Trump took office for his second term.
The boom in Trump-linked crypto projects comes as he promises to usher in a new “golden age” for cryptocurrencies, in stark contrast to the regulatory oversight of the industry imposed by the Biden administration.
WLF, promoted and formed by Trump, his sons and Trump’s new special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, was launched two months before the US elections.
Trump’s new memecoin, dubbed $TRUMP, launched Friday evening at the first-ever Crypto Ball in Washington, DC, in conjunction with the inauguration festivities. The coin surged on Monday, rising from less than $10 on Saturday morning to $74.59 before giving up some of its huge rise from Monday. The new coin has expanded its cryptocurrency interests beyond WLF.
Melania Trump launched her own play, $MELANIA, on Sunday. Its rally pushed its market capitalization well past $1 billion.
Four-fifths of Trump coin’s tokens are owned by CIC Digital, a subsidiary of Trump’s company, and another entity called Fight, Fight, Fight, according to its website. It states that the coins are “an expression of support and commitment to the ideals and beliefs embodied in the ‘$TRUMP’ symbol” and are not an investment or security.
The launch of the WLF just two months before the US elections in November has sparked concerns over ethics and conflicts of interest. The launch of memecoin on Friday evening also raised red flags, even among those in the cryptocurrency industry.
“While it is tempting to dismiss this as simply a Trump spectacle, the launch of the official Trump token opens a Pandora’s box of ethical and regulatory questions,” said Justin D’Anethan, an independent crypto analyst based in Hong Kong. Kong.
Cryptocurrency lawyer Preston Byrne published a blog post on Sunday in which he predicted a 90% chance of a civil lawsuit opposing the coin within the next 14 days.
“Someone will lose money, a lawyer will come up with a theory and a case,” Byrne wrote. “The launch of memecoin is, from a purely political point of view, a huge unforced error.”
The Trump Organization said this month that the president would hand over day-to-day management of his multibillion-dollar real estate, hotel, golf, media and licensing portfolio to his children upon entering the White House.