On the morning of January 20, Donald Trump's newly created crypto token, known as $TRUMP, reached a record market value of $11.7 billion, attracting billions in trading volume just hours before the U.S. president-elect returned to the White House. According to CoinMarketCap, the price of the Meme token reached $58.56 and daily trading volume exceeded $52 billion.

  • Following the launch of the meme coin associated with US President-elect Donald Trump, the Solana (SOL) cryptocurrency has also seen rapid growth. On Saturday, the price of the token hit an all-time high of $295.83. On January 20, the asset's price dropped, but later recovered and is trading above $260.
  • Solana is the fourth largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, excluding stablecoins. Created in 2020 as a faster and cheaper alternative to Ethereum, it is now the platform for some of the most popular meme coins.
  • The world's most popular cryptocurrency, bitcoin, has also hit a new all-time high of $109,000.
  • The market started seeing changes on January 17, after Trump launched his own cryptocurrency. The new token, called Official Trump, is built on the Solana blockchain and has become the largest meme coin on the network.

Meme coins are cryptocurrencies based on memes or viral trends. Their value often depends on their popularity on the internet, rather than on real assets or technologies. As such, they are extremely volatile and risky to invest in.

  • The official website of the Meme Coin states that its goal is to support the ideas and values embodied in the symbol $TRUMP. The project is not positioned as an investment opportunity or security of any kind.
  • A total of 200 million coins have been issued, with plans to increase to 1 billion over three years. Only 10% of the tokens are available to the public, with another 10% set aside for liquidity and 80% reserved for creators and CIC Digital, a subsidiary of the Trump Organization.

Trump's wife, Melania, followed suit by launching her own cryptocurrency called $MELANIA, which undercut her husband's cryptocurrency by 40%. It traded at around $12.03 with a market cap of $1.9 billion.

The community note also included a warning: "Purchasing this token is incredibly risky and will likely result in the loss of funds."

The move comes ahead of Trump's inauguration on Monday, which is expected to usher in a new era of innovation and productivity in the crypto industry, and on the day that Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler's term ends.

A cryptoball

On the day of the $TRUMP launch, crypto industry leaders threw a party to celebrate Trump's return to the White House, whose administration has promised significant changes to cryptocurrency policy.

  • According to Reuters, the event, which attracted around 1,500 guests, was attended by representatives of leading crypto companies such as Crypto.com, Kraken, and Exodus. Trump himself did not attend the event, but several officials from his new administration were in attendance.
  • Guests enjoyed celebrity performances, including Snoop Dogg, Rick Ross, and Soulja Boy, and dined on Trump's favorite food, McDonald's burgers.
  • Tickets ranged from $2,500 for general admission to $100,000 for a VIP package, and sponsors included Robinhood, MicroStrategy, and Crypto.com, with cocktails named after them.

The event highlighted a shift in attitudes toward cryptocurrencies, which have faced regulatory pressure under the Biden administration.