Trump launches meme token ‘TRUMP’, market cap soars to $15B amid cautionary warnings

President-elect Donald Trump announced what appears to be an official Solana meme coin called TRUMP on his Truth Social account. This development comes just days before he is sworn in for his second term in the White House.

The price movement of the TRUMP token is wild. At 12:45 AM ET, the meme coin reached a $10 billion market cap. Three minutes later, its value soared to $11.6 billion. The coin’s market cap is currently at $15 billion.

The Truth Social post went out first reading:

“My NEW Official Trump Meme is HERE! It’s time to celebrate everything we stand for: WINNING! Join my very special Trump Community. GET YOUR $TRUMP NOW.”

~ Truth Social

A trader secures over $20 million profit from TRUMP meme token sale

Almost an hour after the first post, President-elect Donald Trump replicated his message on Truth Social on X, inviting his followers to trade with his meme token. 

GetTrumpMemes also promised rewards to the first 2,500 people who take up the token, saying they will be eligible for an airdrop. In their post, they added that the Trump Community could be accessed from Telegram and encouraged people to engage with it, saying, “Miss out, or become a winner.”

Some have praised Trump’s move to launch the token, while others have resorted to criticism. For starters, AI and crypto commentator Brian Krassenstein believes it’s wrong for Trump to benefit from meme tokens about his presidency. On the contrary, Ross Coin’s Churl Bistros even commended Trump saying, that’s my president.

Moreover, meme coin traders are snapping up the coin in large numbers, pushing its price to $13.6 at the time of writing. Lookonchain even said a trader amassed more than $20 million in profit in just one hour.

Just 90 seconds after Trump revealed the new token’s launch on Truth Social, he purchased 5.97 million TRUMP tokens. Later, he sold 543000 TRUMP tokens for roughly $404k, earning himself a $20 million profit.

Some believe Trump’s Truth Social account was hacked

BlockNews cautioned that Trump’s Truth Social account is likely hacked, asking the public not to interact with it.

Following the agency’s post, the founder of Tennessee Investors Company, Daniel Evans, questioned the likelihood of an account attack, saying, if the account had indeed been hacked, why was it still running? 

Tesla investor BlackAppple.eth also believed that Trump’s account was not hacked and called out the rumors. Another X user criticized the news company, saying so many people missed out on a great trading opportunity because of them.

Meanwhile, on-chain detectives raised potential red flags, such as the project’s apparent seeding with millions of dollars from Binance and Gate, two exchanges that do not serve U.S. consumers. However, as more research was done and Trump’s social media messages continued to be posted, other apparent worries subsided.

Trump is expected to issue a day-one executive order regarding cryptocurrency, which could be the first of many. He is believed to be readying directives that could reshape the American crypto landscape for builders and investors alike.

Land a High-Paying Web3 Job in 90 Days: The Ultimate Roadmap